WHY TEACH AND WORK IN BC?

I am altering my focus from child protection to education, specifically, the teachers' and the BC government. I may speak about this for a while.

Why Teach and work in BC?

This is the lead of a web page entitled ‘Make a Future’ which is recruitment initiative by the BC Public School Employers’ Association and 60 BC public boards of education, the First Nations Education Steering Committee, and the Ministry of Education. It’s a job board that presents a glamorous description of BC’s beauty, lifestyle and location and compels the reader with, “If you and your family are looking to move, now is the time. Need a little more convincing? Here are a few other reasons to live here:

• BC has some of the lowest income tax rates in the country both for individuals and families
• BC’s healthcare system has some of the best statistics in Canada, including the longest life expectancy of any Canadian province
• The province has a world-class public education system; in fact other countries are looking to BC as a model
• As the world economy shifts to the Asia Pacific region, BC will be (and has always been) the gateway to the Pacific

There has never been a better time to live and work here. Come and see for yourself!”

The last statement should be questioned and the first question should be asked once again and both of them tested with the present negotiation impasse in mind. Has there ever been a better time to live and teach in BC? Why live and teach in BC?

There must surely have been a better time to be a teacher in BC than at the present moment. One would be hard-pressed to expound convincing reasons to teach in BC right now. The most emotional justification from 550,000 public school teachers in this province might be comments such as “This is my home;” and “I love teaching;” and “teaching is honourable.”