Teachers need to fall in line, not run the system
Ontario teachers’ unions and the provincial government are at war, again. That’s something we have seen far too often over the past 20-plus years. This time, the fight is ostensibly over the elementary school sex-education curriculum. Union leaders are outraged over the temporary reversion to a curriculum last taught in 2014. They are doubly outraged by Premier Doug Ford’s announcement that parents can complain by phone to the Ontario College of Teachers if teachers don’t follow that curriculum.
The premise of the teachers’ outrage is that it is unfair and unreasonable for the person ultimately in charge of the provincial education system to tell them what to do, as if they were mere employees.
Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, called the phone line “unprecedented, outrageous and shameful!” Further, it’s “a blatant attack on the professionalism of teachers.”
Hammond is not alone. Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, was alarmed by the “overt threat of disciplinary action if the curriculum isn’t followed.” Chris Cowley, a member of the English Catholic teachers’ provincial executive, was at first outraged that tax dollars were being spent on this snitch line, then he was even more upset that the cost would be borne by the college of teachers, which is supported by teachers’ dues.
The union leaders seem to be missing a simple concept here. In just about any normal workplace, the boss calls the shots and the employees do the job they are directed to do. Yes, teaching is a profession, but that doesn’t give teachers the right to run the system, any more than a junior lawyer can countermand a senior partner.
Ford’s choice was to crack down or let unions run the system.
When it comes to education, the provincial government sets the rules and approves the curriculum. None of that is new under Ford.
Not to say that there isn’t substance to the criticism of the old sex-ed curriculum that is being brought back while Ford consults with parents. Teachers and their unions can certainly argue that the previous curriculum requires little or no change. What they shouldn’t do is threaten to ignore the government’s directive. Ford’s outrageous and unprecedented snitch line, as the teaching unions would have it, is actually a reaction to those same unions encouraging teachers not to follow the old sexed curriculum. Ford’s choice was to crack down or let unions run the system.
It’s about time someone reminded teachers’ unions how the world works. If they are allowed to teach whatever they like when it comes to sex-ed, what will they do about math? Ford is also consulting on changes to the math curriculum, but it’s clear he believes schools need more rote learning and less “discovery math.” This is an old, long-running debate, but students’ poor results in elementary and applied secondary school math tests are an indicator that we need to try something different. Some teachers won’t like that change. Should they have the final say?
The subtext of the teachers’ stance is that Ford is a uniquely bad guy, and needs to be opposed. Every left-thinking person knows that. It would be a better argument if the teachers didn’t go to war with premier after premier.
Teachers’ unions have had a difficult time dealing with government going back to at least the time of Mike Harris in the 1990s. Then they got Dalton McGuinty, the education premier. There was a honeymoon period, but teachers turned against McGuinty when he tried to curtail their compensation. Kathleen Wynne was a hit, until she wasn’t. The secondary and elementary teachers unions supported the NDP in the last election.
For quite some time, teachers’ unions have been actively engaged in politics and have adopted the notion that their support is critical to a party getting elected. Apparently, it’s not. Professional opinions about education from teachers and their unions are welcome, but ignoring the wishes of a democratically-elected government is not.