Public School Teachers Stand Firm on Stupid Policy

You may have noticed that the morning announcements this year have been short or nonexistent. It amazes me just how many of those announcements were taken up by clubs or other voluntary organizations within the school. It's true what they say about not knowing what you have until its gone. A lot of students in the school are left thinking about the void this job action has left in their lives, never having realized just how important these activities were until they were suspended. But it's not just clubs and sports which have been sacrificed; academics are also a concern now that the math contests which Woodlands students excel at are suspended. Students wanting to enroll in engineering programs at Waterloo or U of T are less than thrilled about the prospect of having to write the contests at some unknown location to fulfill their admission requirements. All sports have been canceled thereby taking away some of the most positive activities many students have in their lives. Overall this situation is really nasty and unnecessary. No Grad, no commencement, no dances, no sports, no contests, no clubs, no regard. This publication is not usually in the business of assigning blame but in this instance the blame is very squarely and honestly placed on the teacher's union and yes, the teachers of this school. This situation is so puzzling that a few questions beg to be asked: Why have the teacher's done this? What type of Herculean stretch of logic does it take to associate student's activities with putting the hurt on the board administrators? I'm not trying to insult the intelligence of the teachers union bigwigs or anything, just asking a simple question. I honestly don't understand what the possible justification could be other than stone cold stupidity. I'll bet Mike Harris is having trouble sleeping at night because our Prefects are unable to organize their annual barbecue. I'm sure the trustees are broken up about our lack of math contests. Don't be assholes about this. If you want a resolution stop dicking around and stop taking your frustration out on us. The students of this school do not set policy and those who do set policy don't give a flying fuck about our Spirit Week, The teachers obviously think that they have a brilliant public relations strategy. My only advice to them is to fire whatever Rasputin they have making decisions for them. I could give you better public relations advice for chrissakes. Its time they realize they cannot, at the same time, say that they are taking action for our good and then screw us over large style. That's called hypocrisy my friends. You're not fooling anybody. If you talk to any teachers one on one about this they admit as much. They know this is stupid and will get them nowhere and they readily concede this. Anyone with any common sense at all knows this is an ineffective policy to say the least. So why are they standing behind their union? I don't actually know because I'm not a teacher myself but I have a theory. It's because of last year's strike fiasco. They feel that if they don't exude solidarity from every pore, and if they don't toe the line, they may lose the union. This is an honest fear considering the bone headed decisions their union has made recently and really I don't blame teachers for fearing a good ol' union bustin'. Jesus, forget the Pinkertons, the teachers are their own worst enemy.