Christy Clark, Your Honor,
I am a grade ten student writing
on behalf of my teachers. While ever creative and dedicated, years of cuts have
been harsh on them.
One of my teachers had a class of thirty four
students. So many students that there were not enough chairs and desks for
every kid in the class. There were pairs of people sharing chairs and workspace
due to the excessively large class. This is Canada, not a third or second world
country! There should be enough chairs to accommodate every student, should
there not?
Once the material had been taught
to the class as a whole (approximately fifty minutes must be spent doing this),
our teacher circulated to aid us in our individual understanding. There is only
time – in the remaining thirty minutes - for fifty three seconds per student in
an eighty minute period. In those thirty
minutes, the teacher had to help the seven special needs students in the class
which left no time to help the rest of the class. There is no CEA in this classroom as the
class next to us had more special needs students and therefore qualified for
the CEA. Simply put, in this environment
students are not able to receive the support required for optimum learning and
understanding and this cannot continue.
I would also like to comment on
the state of the resources in one of my other classes. For our novel study in
English class we read “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Due to its literary renown, this
is the same book my parents read in high school. Unfortunately, it is the exact
same set of books my parents used. , The
condition of these books is deplorable. Twelve years ago the condition of these
books might not have warranted replacement but now the issue is non-negotiable.
There is writing on the inside, some of the covers are falling off and mine had
several pages missing yet they are not being replaced or updated due to a lack
of funding.
In third world countries, when
organizations intervene, the biggest focus is almost always on education as it
has been shown to help lift people from poverty. We see in our society that
many of the educated people tend to be better off. Obviously education raises
the standard of living. Your campaign promise was to “put families first”. In
properly funding education you do exactly that: raise the general standard of
living which is almost synonymous with your promise. These may not be the
established families of today but they will definitely be the families of
tomorrow. Please, keep your promise to the families of British Columbia and put
families first by supplying adequate funding for our public school system.
Often we hear that the province
cannot afford to fix the woes of the education system. We are one of the
richest provinces in the country yet we invest one of the least dollar amounts
per student in our education. Ms. Clark, another one of your campaign promises
last year specifically stated that, if necessary, the corporate tax rate would
be increased. We have the lowest
corporate tax rate in the country. No business will leave our province if their
tax rate is increased by one percent. Ms. Clark, for the students, for our
teachers, for our families, it is now necessary to raise corporate tax. Please
make good on your election promise.
Our hard working and dedicated
teachers have always taught kids to identify and help end bullying in our
schools. When we are young we learn that bullying is when a kid gets hurt at
the hands of another and that it’s simply not nice. As we age we learn that it
is an imbalance of power that is wielded to the harm of the other party
involved. Every year kids are bullied and teachers stand up and support them.
Every year entire schools come together decked out in pink in support of those
who were bullied and those who still might be.
When you introduced Nova Scotia’s “Pink Shirt Day” as a pledge to end
bullying in our schools it was a one day event. Now, it has grown and wearing a
pink shirt has become a symbol that says “I support the parties affected and I
will not let the harmful deeds go unrecognized”. When I look at my school I see
a lot of bullied teachers with no one standing up for them. So today I wear a
pink shirt to stand up for my teachers and to stand up against the endless cuts
and illegalities perpetrated by this government. If your pledge is valid you will look at all
the teachers in this province and live up to your word that will end the
bullying in our schools because that extends to our teachers as well.
British Columbia cannot afford
for this to continue. This issue is negatively affecting the teachers who have
endured this torment for too long. The students who deserve much more than they
are getting and the families of this province whose future wellbeing rides on
their education are patiently waiting. So, it must be dealt with now and the
outcome must be favourable for all the aforementioned parties before this issue
can be considered truly resolved.
A prompt personal reply would be
appreciated.
Sincerely,
Alexander Corbett
Grade ten student at Salmon Arm
Secondary School; Salmon Arm, British Columbia
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