Education Levels by Country

[Skandranon]

You're buying the media, Skan.  I can understand this sort of feeling when you take into consideration only the soundbites that the media (and hence: government) is handing out... but you need to dig deeper.

I find that a rather insulting accusation when I went out of my way to point out that it only LOOKS that way, not that it's actually the case. I know that the media isn't telling the whole story, thanks, and I don't need you to tell me when I already said so.

That said, explain to me exactly how strikes improve the quality of education? Especially those that have denied Ontario students of several months of their school years many times in the last decade? How does that improve quality of education?

Money isn't the only issue, of course, I understand that. But it's a central piece, as that OISE document proves. Teachers like to talk about wages and how low they are, and in this case I am listening to the Ontario Teachers' Association's media and not the media in general or the government. I don't think they're any less biased, but the common mention of wages in their own press releases means something, does it not? As for the other things, I mentioned them, as well, especially "preparation time". I've made an effort to understand what they're looking for, and I concede that a number of their demands are reasonable. But I also need to point out that there isn't that much to go around and that the teachers are, quite often, looking for a bigger piece of the pie than the government can afford to give.

It's a natural bargaining technique, I'll say that. I probably wouldn't mind if not for the strikes. I'm annoyed that teachers choose to damage students' education while claiming to be trying to improve it. I'm annoyed that they seem to believe that striking and stopping school will suddenly change the economic situation. I'm annoyed that they continually interpret an I'm sorry, we can't do that as a We don't want you to have it. That's what annoys me about Ontario teachers.

(All right, maybe there's a bit of resentment over the Teachers' Pension Fund and the fact they own far too much of the Maple Leafs to make me comfortable. But let's keep that one secret. ;) )