DOUCLAS COLLEGE

As a person outside the teaching (profession), I have tpken ARCHIVES
an interest in the discussions in this paper about faculty cert-

 

 

ification.

It interests me that the president of the college's
Faculty Federation is taking such a strong stand for certification.
A president's job is to provide leadership, but there is a section
of the faculty that is receiving no leadership from him. A president
must remain neutral in all issues - only offering guidance where
needed. Mr. Elmes is not doing his job. His preferences are
causing some members to feel, instead of being able to approach
him with arguments, they must fight the president to get what
they want.

Teachers keep calling themselves members of the "teaching
profession". A professional is a person who is available 24 hours
a day for hire or no pay. Teachers cannot think of themselves
as belonging to a labourer's union under contract for hours worked,
salaries or working conditions (they work at home - so what if
they don't like the conditions?) The taxpayers see the teacher as
that person who wants (1) to be called a professional (2) to
work 2 hours a day (3) to earn $2000 a month. We would all like
to live in that fairyland! There is no union at present that
understands the professional's position enough to be able to
bargain for him and to satisfy his employer (the public).

What has happened within the teaching profession in the
last 10 years is surely great. Is all that about to be destroyed
by sheer greed? Teachers have made some great gains. To keep
it up, they must now decide - at their present earning level,
are they professionals or labourers? Is it not time to abandon
the idea of a union, in favour of a professional association?

...mame witheld at writer's request-ed.