Editorial — Parents’ protest an exercise in frustration
Sending a message on the street.
WEDNESDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The protest rally staged Tuesday by several dozen Kamloops parents and their kids was a clear and sad enunciation of the tragedy of the dispute between teachers and the government.
The object of the exercise was to let politicians know that they’re part of an unacceptable situation — unacceptable socially, politically and in any other way you can think of. And that they must do something to end it.
Did it succeed? Well, today, 15,000 Kamloops students and 500,000 B.C. students are still out of school.
In fairness, while the parents’ wrath seemed directed mainly at government, the B.C. Teachers Federation and its members are equal partners in this drama. At any rate, the parents drew up placards and milled about in front of the offices of MLAs Todd Stone and Terry Lake with no clear plan of action.
As one parent organizer said apologetically, “I’m 42 years old and this is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.” Within an hour or so, having at least succeeded in getting a meeting with Lake, they knew their vows of staying on the street until the dispute is settled weren’t going to be a reality.
Instead, they’ll sign petitions and letters.
And nothing will come of it. The government knows, and the BCTF knows, that such protests have a shelf life of about 24 hours before everybody moves on.
It’s sad when a democratic action such as this leads nowhere. Democracy isn’t supposed to be like this, but when teachers and government come to blows, everybody else, including our kids, best get out of the way.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
BC’s education funding is shamefully below most of the other provinces’. Having lost two court cases the Liberals are now trying to bully teachers into submitting and abandoning the Court”s award in return for a regular salary. A starve and besiege mentality. Can you imagine this immoral tactic applied to other fundamental social services like police, fire, ambulance, nurses or ferries?
Legislating an end to the strike would prevent the Liberals from taking an end-run around the impending court decision, and the government knows it.
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Imagine ??? They are already doing it to our paramedics, and getting away with it.
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Let’s see what happens one week from now, if the strike is still on. A lot of parents are just winging it. The $40/day isn’t useful if there isn’t any daycare for your kid. Yesterday’s demonstration may not have much impact, but give this smoldering fire a week or two to grow. Let’s see what happens.
This editorial makes it seem as if the BCTF and its teachers are equally to blame as the govt. I do not agree. A lot of what has been said in the media and by our govt has muddied the waters. The issues here are the conditions under which teachers must work. Try teaching a class of 40 kids where 4 or 5 (or more) of them have special needs. If you are frustrated by the strike, think of what a lot of these teachers go through every day. These are the guys who are on the front lines of education, not the paper-shuffling govt administrators who purport to know more about what is needed in the classroom.
Yes, education costs money. But ignorance is far more costly. Ironically, this govt which constantly sings the praises of free enterprise, is not willing to spend money on the future people who will be part of it.
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