Teachers As Anarchists - A Study in Stupidity
Teachers play an enormously important role in our lives. How many of us is unable to single out at least one teacher whose skill, care, understanding or concern played a significant role in shaping our lives or those of our children? As parents, we entrust our children to the care and supervision of teachers for some 193 days each year in British Columbia.
In my own case I hold in the highest esteem the late Elmer Lundbach, my grades 11 and 12 math teacher at Winston High in Watrous, Saskatchewan. I never saw Elmer without a jacket and tie, except when he was curling. He was from the tough love generation and when hundreds of his former students gathered to celebrate his life last fall it was clear that love had trumped toughness every time.
It would never have occurred to Mr. Lundbach to remove his jacket and tie and throw on a sandwich board so he could walk the sidewalk in front of his school to protest against what he considered to be unfair treatment by his employer. It would have appalled him to see teachers rally in front of the legislative buildings as if in preparation for the Sun Run, chant solidarity forever and urge workers in other fields to join them in a general strike.
He would have been even more appalled at the intellectual dishonesty displayed by the teachers and their leaders as they seek to spin straw into gold and paint their lawbreaking as civil disobedience, and their advocacy of anarchism as a natural offshoot of the freedoms afforded them as members of a democracy.
He would have said, “teaching is an honourable profession and teachers must rise above the fray and must not only adhere to but teach a higher standard of civility than do ordinary citizens.”
But that was then, and now is now. Now teaching is no longer a profession but a union shop. Teachers still want all the privileges of professionals but without the responsibilities and accountability. If truly a profession, mediocrity and incompetence would have consequences for teachers, other than a transfer to a different school, and excellence would be acknowledged and rewarded. If truly professional, teachers would acknowledge that there will be failures amongst their ranks and that incompetent teachers cause damage to students and bring the entire profession into disrepute if their failure carries no consequence.
As a trade union, solidarity is the motto. Rewards for excellence are restricted to tokenism, usually dispensed at a teacher’s retirement party or upon his or her departure from the rank and file to join the administration – the only method of financial advancement permitted in this socialistic environment.
As a trade, teachers have chosen to elect a union leadership steeped in the tradition of confrontational trade union bargaining. Politically teachers have permitted themselves to become toadies for the socialist political parties. Jenny Sims’ predecessor as head of the BCTF now sits as an NDP member of the legislature, a natural evolutionary result of union Darwinism.
Jenny Sims and her coterie of BCTF executives operate from a different agenda. Sims welcomes the prospect of being jailed, as it would increase her profile amongst the social activists who control the public sector unions and amongst the fawning press who would soon make her into a martyr. The BCTF has carried out its collective bargaining for the last decade with a mindset to promote confrontation with government.
I am convinced that the majority of rank and file teachers do not want to break the law. The original vote in favour of a strike was meant as a protest against what they perceived to be unwillingness on the part of government to listen to their complaints about class size and out of frustration at not receiving any wage increase. The solidarity mentality leads to fortress mentality and the government becomes the enemy, the faults of the union’s own leadership are ignored or go unrecognized.
Ultimately the crowd mentality overwhelms enough of the rank and file that we now have the remarkable sight of busloads of teachers filling a BC ferry to travel to Victoria to wave their placards and brandish their sophomoric slogans – all in defiance of a court order.
And yet they fail to see that what they are advocating is anarchy. The only consequence of persistent lawbreaking is either punishment or chaos. When those to whom we entrust the education of our children exhibit such aberrant behaviour I am reminded of Robert Musil when he said, “unfortunately, stupidity has something uncommonly endearing and natural about it. There is in short no great idea that stupidity could not put to its own uses. It can move in all directions, and put on all guises of the truth. The truth by comparison, has only one appearance, and only one path, and is always at a disadvantage.”
If you want to see an object lesson in stupidity, walk down to your nearest school and ask a teacher to explain to you again how breaking the law is good for your kids.
In my own case I hold in the highest esteem the late Elmer Lundbach, my grades 11 and 12 math teacher at Winston High in Watrous, Saskatchewan. I never saw Elmer without a jacket and tie, except when he was curling. He was from the tough love generation and when hundreds of his former students gathered to celebrate his life last fall it was clear that love had trumped toughness every time.
It would never have occurred to Mr. Lundbach to remove his jacket and tie and throw on a sandwich board so he could walk the sidewalk in front of his school to protest against what he considered to be unfair treatment by his employer. It would have appalled him to see teachers rally in front of the legislative buildings as if in preparation for the Sun Run, chant solidarity forever and urge workers in other fields to join them in a general strike.
He would have been even more appalled at the intellectual dishonesty displayed by the teachers and their leaders as they seek to spin straw into gold and paint their lawbreaking as civil disobedience, and their advocacy of anarchism as a natural offshoot of the freedoms afforded them as members of a democracy.
He would have said, “teaching is an honourable profession and teachers must rise above the fray and must not only adhere to but teach a higher standard of civility than do ordinary citizens.”
But that was then, and now is now. Now teaching is no longer a profession but a union shop. Teachers still want all the privileges of professionals but without the responsibilities and accountability. If truly a profession, mediocrity and incompetence would have consequences for teachers, other than a transfer to a different school, and excellence would be acknowledged and rewarded. If truly professional, teachers would acknowledge that there will be failures amongst their ranks and that incompetent teachers cause damage to students and bring the entire profession into disrepute if their failure carries no consequence.
As a trade union, solidarity is the motto. Rewards for excellence are restricted to tokenism, usually dispensed at a teacher’s retirement party or upon his or her departure from the rank and file to join the administration – the only method of financial advancement permitted in this socialistic environment.
As a trade, teachers have chosen to elect a union leadership steeped in the tradition of confrontational trade union bargaining. Politically teachers have permitted themselves to become toadies for the socialist political parties. Jenny Sims’ predecessor as head of the BCTF now sits as an NDP member of the legislature, a natural evolutionary result of union Darwinism.
Jenny Sims and her coterie of BCTF executives operate from a different agenda. Sims welcomes the prospect of being jailed, as it would increase her profile amongst the social activists who control the public sector unions and amongst the fawning press who would soon make her into a martyr. The BCTF has carried out its collective bargaining for the last decade with a mindset to promote confrontation with government.
I am convinced that the majority of rank and file teachers do not want to break the law. The original vote in favour of a strike was meant as a protest against what they perceived to be unwillingness on the part of government to listen to their complaints about class size and out of frustration at not receiving any wage increase. The solidarity mentality leads to fortress mentality and the government becomes the enemy, the faults of the union’s own leadership are ignored or go unrecognized.
Ultimately the crowd mentality overwhelms enough of the rank and file that we now have the remarkable sight of busloads of teachers filling a BC ferry to travel to Victoria to wave their placards and brandish their sophomoric slogans – all in defiance of a court order.
And yet they fail to see that what they are advocating is anarchy. The only consequence of persistent lawbreaking is either punishment or chaos. When those to whom we entrust the education of our children exhibit such aberrant behaviour I am reminded of Robert Musil when he said, “unfortunately, stupidity has something uncommonly endearing and natural about it. There is in short no great idea that stupidity could not put to its own uses. It can move in all directions, and put on all guises of the truth. The truth by comparison, has only one appearance, and only one path, and is always at a disadvantage.”
If you want to see an object lesson in stupidity, walk down to your nearest school and ask a teacher to explain to you again how breaking the law is good for your kids.
posted by Ben Buan | 10:06 a.m.
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