The road not taken

Of all the overindulged groups in all the world, Ontario teachers must surely be the most mollycoddled. First, there was the news that expenses for negotiators were paid for by the other side; now their bloated pensions are being buttressed by full credit for time off during an illegal strike. And what to say about the Ontario government toll-gating political contributions from the teachers? Taxpayer money is being recycled like it was rotten food meant for the green bin.

Teachers hardly even do their jobs anymore. They refuse to reply to emails from principals received after 3:15 p.m. They don’t even respond to parents looking to talk about a child’s progress or lack thereof. Report cards are fewer and far between. Graduates enter university without basic life skills; many have never even made a single presentation to class in all their student years.

There was a time when I wanted to be a teacher. I don’t know which would have been worse: trying to maintain the attention of a classroom of unruly, texting students or the ignominy of being part of such a greedy group. Teachers might have our money but they no longer command our respect.