Government mishandling teachers
The present government is following its predecessors in its handling of education in B.C. The basic problem is the public does not value education.
As a retired teacher I recall teaching a class of 45 Grade 1 students. The smaller classes were in the 35 range. Smaller classes were often composed of a dozen very bright students, a dozen or so average learners and a group of children with learning or other difficulties.
Can you imagine the pressure to serve all these needs? I was in a class of 60 Grade 6 students, is this what we want? Poor planning, apathy and powerless teachers allowed this to happen.
Let’s support the idea of an excellent and efficient education for all our children in B.C.
Donna Gladish
Penticton
*****
Where is professionalism?
The basic definition of professional is, “following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain,” such as a professional builder, athlete, lawyer, teacher, doctor, truck driver, carpenter etc.)
Let’s look at sports professionals. They are highly skilled individuals recruited to do the team bidding in a professional sports world. The skill levels of these individuals, the amounts they are paid and the attitude they bring, are all different.
In the recent NHL playoffs professional decorum seems to have slipped in the heat of battle. This seems somewhat natural, however, there have been instances of inexplicable unprofessional behaviour. It all seems to centre around ethnicity, more exactly race and skin color.
A case in point is an incident in a recent game where P.K. Subban scored a goal in a losing battle to the Boston Bruins. He happened to be near the Bruins bench. Sitting at the end of that bench, Shawn Thornton, in a very childish gesture and a Cheshire cat leer/grin, used a team water bottle to spray Subban.
Thornton, in my opinion, by his silly smile, showed a definite lack of professionalism and disrespect for a fellow professional who was making more of an impact than he appeared to be.
Just think as to how this must look to young up and coming hockey players who all have hockey idols, although hopefully not Thornton. Imagine, he is being paid to some degree, for being a clown.
It smacks of bully tactics. It might seem trivial to many people, however, this kind of act as seen on national TV lingers in the remember-when category, and not the achievement category.
Ron Barillaro
Penticton
*****
Support for teachers
Can 42,000 teachers be wrong? No.
As far as the Liberal B.C. government trying to soften the issue by putting the children up front and center please take heed!
We were all children once upon a time and educated by teachers who also taught many shady porkatician’s that went astray.
We all know the saying no pain, no gain.
From this present government there is no end of the pain they deliver 24/7.
Wasn’t second-chance Premier Christy Clark a former education minister who was sour grapes against the teacher’s back then?
I read that Clark has her son enrolled in a private school, why is that?
Does Clark believe she and her son are better than we who pay for her upscale lifestyle? As I recall this phony had a nursery built in the legislative building for her toddler on the taxpayer dime.
What are Education Minister Fassbender’s credentials? Are they any better than former education minister Bud Abbott the farmer?
My advice for the teachers is to escalate the strike and force it to a conclusion in their favour.
Teachers are here to stay where politicians are no more than transients, here today and gone tomorrow along with a bag of our cash and benefits that make a teacher’s salary look like a real deal compared to the extravagant lifestyle generated from the hog factory trough situated on Pork Chop Hill.
I wonder how large the paycheque is that the government chief negotiator receives?
Tom Isherwood
Olalla
*****
Musical thank you
A big shout out to the Penticton Western News for Kristy Patton’s article about my CD release concert.
We had a full house, thanks in part to your coverage. Your support for local entertainment is appreciated.
Kyle Anderson
Penticton
*****
Community steps up
I would like to publicly recognize and thank all the organizations in the community for supporting our school families on days such as Monday, May 26, which was School District 67’s day of the rotating strike action in BC. The City of Penticton, which always arranges full day camp-style events at late notice and at low cost, and other local organizations such as Fitkidz exhibit an open-arms attitude that simply ask how they can help. Unfortunately our students in higher grade levels feel the academic pressure of lost days in school, and families of younger children have to make last minute and often costly arrangements for their children. This issue is complicated and not easily solved. The parents in the community are thankful for the teachers that instruct our kids on a day to day basis, as well at those that stand in their stead in situations such as these.
Sharon Otke
Penticton
*****
Tube advice
(re: Sunscreen often wasted, Letters, Western News, May 28)
Mr. Butler raises the interesting problem of sunscreen that collects in the bottom of a seemingly empty container and refuses to be ejected despite much squeezing. This also applies to other highly viscous household fluids such as dish soap and shampoo, as well as condiments like ketchup and mayonnaise.
To some extent the problem can be solved: raise the container overhead with the nozzle pointing upward; then swing your arm violently outward and downward so that the nozzle suddenly points toward the ground. Do this several times. The combination of centrifugal force and inertia will cause the fluid to collect near the nozzle whereupon it can be squeezed out.
Be very careful, however, that the cap and nozzle are securely closed. I once tried this with a mustard container not knowing that the cap was loose. The result was disastrous.
Drew Makepeace
Penticton