While COVID-19 has made some parents more appreciative of teachers, for Calgary stay-at-home mom Laura Mitchell, the infighting is shaking her faith in the public school system
It's a shame you felt slighted by the couple of CBE teachers who taught your two kids, but there's just so much missed and cherrypicked in this article. Teachers are looking after 22+ students, not two. They're expected to teach kids who are not their own, which carries a completely different (i.e., stunted) power dynamic than the relationship with a parent. Teachers are doing what they can to accommodate not just students who aren't interested in learning, but also parents who have no time or motivation to get their kids to do any work. Teachers were not "sitting at home" as schools were not closed; classes were cancelled—a distinction that seems to have been missed in this article. In fact, you started by correctly identifying that it was the government who cancelled classes but then later—incorrectly, argued that, "on March 15, and in the days following, the teachers of Alberta and elsewhere in the Western world made a snap decision to manage their pandemic response. In doing so, they declared their own in-class expertise non-essential."
You seem upset that teachers are expressing concern about funding in the fall, and yet have missed the point that they're simply advocating for their students the same way you're advocating for your kids in this article. Alberta's response and preparation for school this fall is the worst by any province in the country, and although more families may start homeschooling their children this fall, I doubt it's for the reasons you've argued above.
So go ahead—homeschool your kids. Congratulations for having that luxury. But don't be surprised when no one cares.
A tale of two schools my grandchildren attend during Covid:
School one: Teachers online 9:30 to 3:30, assignments given, help available, lessons marked
School two: one email Monday AM. No follow up, not available. My grade 5 granddaughter gets a Grade 11 math assignment. That’s how much thought went into it.
Teachers at both these schools are getting paid exactly the same.
It's a shame you felt slighted by the couple of CBE teachers who taught your two kids, but there's just so much missed and cherrypicked in this article. Teachers are looking after 22+ students, not two. They're expected to teach kids who are not their own, which carries a completely different (i.e., stunted) power dynamic than the relationship with a parent. Teachers are doing what they can to accommodate not just students who aren't interested in learning, but also parents who have no time or motivation to get their kids to do any work. Teachers were not "sitting at home" as schools were not closed; classes were cancelled—a distinction that seems to have been missed in this article. In fact, you started by correctly identifying that it was the government who cancelled classes but then later—incorrectly, argued that, "on March 15, and in the days following, the teachers of Alberta and elsewhere in the Western world made a snap decision to manage their pandemic response. In doing so, they declared their own in-class expertise non-essential."
You seem upset that teachers are expressing concern about funding in the fall, and yet have missed the point that they're simply advocating for their students the same way you're advocating for your kids in this article. Alberta's response and preparation for school this fall is the worst by any province in the country, and although more families may start homeschooling their children this fall, I doubt it's for the reasons you've argued above.
So go ahead—homeschool your kids. Congratulations for having that luxury. But don't be surprised when no one cares.
I don’t think this piece stands up to the others published here so far.
A tale of two schools my grandchildren attend during Covid:
School one: Teachers online 9:30 to 3:30, assignments given, help available, lessons marked
School two: one email Monday AM. No follow up, not available. My grade 5 granddaughter gets a Grade 11 math assignment. That’s how much thought went into it.
Teachers at both these schools are getting paid exactly the same.