College strike is about fixing system

Re Strikes shine a light on broken college system, Cohn, Oct. 17 I am a college professor with more than 48 years in the Ontario system and a member of the local executive committee of OPSEU Local 560 (Seneca College).

This strike is being produced, scripted, orchestrated and choreographed by the government of Ontario, which is likely to legislate faculty back to work in three to four weeks.

Meanwhile, the obvious injustice, inefficacy and inefficiency of turning upwards of 70 per cent of teaching over to precarious teachers, who are denied the resources and time to deal with class preparation, student counselling and grading, does permanent damage to all concerned.

It is not OPSEU but the teachers themselves who made the related issues of college governance and academic freedom our top demands. If fresh life is to be breathed into the broken college system, it must come from the curriculum and classroom experts in the interest of the students, the larger society and the colleges themselves.

The employer is only willing to talk about salaries, but this is not about money; it’s about a college system in disrepair. Howard A. Doughty, Richmond Hill As a professor at Seneca, I have always believed enough in the value of a journey through our programs to encourage both of my sons to be students there. Yet, with the direction the college is heading, it may not be a good idea for my grandchildren.

We have too many part-time and sessional teachers throughout the system. Always having to be rehired every few months, combined with administration’s new focus on a business model where there is pressure to pass more students so we can say we are successful, is not what post-secondary education should be about.

We need to be honest with our students and if they lack ability, work ethic or do not come to class, then the grades should reflect that reality. At Seneca, administration took our acid test of achieving 55 per cent to pass a subject down to 50 per cent, along with other strategies to get more students through.

Customers are always happy when they get a deal, but they are less happy when that product falls apart after a couple of uses. Our faculty are the workers on the line and we have a lot to say about what constitutes a quality product.

This strike is sounding an alarm. It would be wise to listen to us. Russell Pangborn, Keswick Strikes are inconvenient but college students are not going to get any tuition money back. That is because when the strike ends, the students will still get the education they paid for and the diploma that goes along with it.

Instead of whining about the inconvenience of the strike, the students should support their teachers who are fighting against the very labour force inequities that they themselves will soon face when they enter the workforce — precarious work and gross inequities between management and worker earnings and benefits. Max Williams, Brampton