Friday, January 11, 2013

Hereby Resolved

There’s a lot of advice for teachers floating about these days. One of the most common reiterations goes like this: “If they don’t like their deal, they should step aside. There are plenty of hungry young teachers willing to have it worse simply to get a job.” Until a few months ago, as a hungry young teacher myself, I might have been advising that very thing.

Well, teachers, if you’re working in a publicly funded Ontario Board, you can fill that role guilt-free, I just don’t want it any longer.

Here’s some background on myself. I have a BA and an MA from McMaster University, and a recently acquired BEd from Brock University. At Brock, I put in extra time and money to obtain a specialization in educational technology and 21st Century fluencies. I’ve aspired to be a teacher since childhood, and until I finally applied for my very own OCT certification, it’s the only career I’ve ever wanted in life.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I would have made a fine addition to Ontario’s self-described “greatest education model in the world.”

Like 2/3rds of my cohort, I was (not unexpectedly) unable to secure a job in the public education sector following graduation. In response to this, many of us chose to teach overseas, or are pursuing education in a private or tutoring capacity. I’ve found a rather plum position at a Toronto museum, working within an innovative education program. Yet even when that job began, I still felt confident I would someday soon have a classroom of my own as an Ontario teacher.

But here’s the thing. Watching from the sidelines as this provincial administration has continuously insulted and undermined the people and career I respect, and aspired to join the ranks of, has been an intensely disillusioning process. I cannot reconcile the violation of constitutional rights, willful disregard of collective bargaining, and the continuous disrespect hurled at this profession with my vision of teaching as a career worth sacrificing my time, energy, and skillset for. If teachers are so poorly regarded, what motivation am I being given to struggle to contribute my hard-fought education and talent to become one?

That question has occupied my mind quite a bit these last few months, and I highly doubt I’m the only one it has occurred to. Today, I finally have an answer to it. Because the major political parties of Ontario continue to treat this profession with either hostility or veiled indifference; because the current administration intentionally misleads the public into believing this labour strife has been about greed and sick days, as opposed to fighting to keep hard-won fundamental rights; because I see teachers publicly derided for refusing to volunteer their private, personal time to students even while under direct political attack, I have resolved to take my passion as an educator outside of the publicly-funded school system.

Don’t worry about me, I’ll be just fine out there. It’s saddening I’m not sure I can say the same for Ontario’s next generation of public school students when young, energetic, and passionate educators like myself decide it’s not worth being bullied to care for them.

Shawn McCarty
Toronto, Ontario 

1 comment:

  1. Great blog post that sums up the current climate in Ontario.
    Thanks for sharing your ideas.
    Lead On!
    Camille

    ReplyDelete