Dear Editor:
Re: Teachers ponder next move, Burnaby NOW, March 7.
The "net-zero" mandate the government gave this legislature really shows what they think public education is: a business. Only in a business does money in have to equal or be greater than money out.
Really, Christy Clark needs to think of education as more of an investment, which is exactly what it is. Money that gets used to teach that Grade 1 student his or her alphabet will not be immediately returned.
It will take another 11 years until they graduate, and if that student decides to pursue post-secondary education, it may be another two to eight years before that student becomes a part of the workforce and that investment begins to be returned. If the government wants to think of public education as a business, then why not give it the same standards of private education which is, more or less, a business?
This really all comes down to respecting teachers, and the work they do for the community and the province.
Teachers can help us become the people we aspire to be, but only if they have the resources to do so. Education is a labour of love, but it is about time that they are recognized for their efforts.
Anne Simonen, Burnaby
