These thoughts have been going through my head for too long to keep quiet. Standing on the lawn of the legislature today instead of standing in my classroom has left me angry again. Angry, with a twist. We, the teachers, are fighting a good fight. Parents seem to be on our side. Students seem to be on our side. I would even argue, and this includes seeing the results of the right-leaning conservative news polls that I have been taking lately, that the public is on our side. But I am still angry. I’m angry today because this is no longer enough. I realized again today that, even with the best interest of kids in mind, even with every teacher I talk to saying “I have to go the bank again today but this is a fight we have to fight”, even with the supreme court, a seemingly strong law enforcing body, saying “Yeah, those teachers… they are right here”, even with all of this, it’s not enough. This government is going to wait us out. They can. They will. I also realized today that I am swimming in a fish. My fish bowl is filled with amazing teachers, brilliant, passionate teachers who LOVE this profession and the students who fill their classrooms, individuals who shape the lives of future leaders and love every damn second of the struggle to teach. But, it’s a fishbowl. Karen, Karen, Jenn, Lisa B-w, Sara, Dana, Cindy Peñafiel, Jacqui, Chris, Kim… I read your posts, your thoughts, share your links and repost your videos. But, the problem is, the people who read it are all of you in my fishbowl. Great in theory, but as I said, I feel this is no longer enough. How do we reach more people? How can we really get the word out there? I don’t have an answer, but we need to find one fairly soon. I have heard people call for a general strike. I truthfully think this would work. The problem is that when other unions go out on strike, have the teachers been there to walk the lines with them? Not to the same extent these amazing people seem to help us. I would argue it’s because we are in the classroom teaching our students at the same time and escaping to walk a picket line is a challenge. That being said, would the crew of BC Ferries or BC Transit or anyone for that matter feel strongly enough to walk out for us? I don’t know. I sure as hell hope so because that may be all we have left. So, to those in my fishbowl, or anyone with a silver bullet of wisdom, what can we do? We need something bigger. We need to reach a bigger audience. You are amazing people, thoughtful, passionate people, but we need more. Please chime in.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 04:10:22 +0000
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