Dear Editor:
I, as a Grade 11 student, am very disappointed and discouraged with the email that was sent out to all the parents of North Vancouver students June 3 regarding the student walkout.
First of all, if I thought staying in class and doing things the way the district or the teachers want me to would allow my voice and my opinion to be heard, I would certainly do just that.
But let's face it, following the rules never caused any change. Ever. Period.The vague, politicianlike ways in which the school district recommends students protest would have no effect.
Furthermore, the fact that the walkout was being condemned due to it "placing students at risk," causes me to ask, where was I today? I most certainly was notin school, and why? Because the teachers are on strike, and why is that? Because of the "current labour dispute between BCTF and the BCPSEA."In other words, the two sides can't agree and the students are suffering because of this.
So to then claim that it is unsafe for me to be outside of school during regularly scheduled classroom hours - I cannot express myoutrage, other than to say that I am sorely tempted to hurl my very expensive computer out the window. One more thing - if the goal is to have students "not be disruptive to learning" then may I suggest that locking teachers out of schools, banning them from conveniently helping students, marking tests, or preparing lessons, preventing students from studying by forcing librarians to close school libraries during lunch and break, and causing teachers to lose faith in the democratic system by unfairly cutting 10 per cent of their wages while they attempt to do the same amount of work as they had before in a lesser amount of time, are not the best approaches to solving this problem.
Joshua A. Singer Johnson
North Vancouver
