LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Response to Father Sean

Monday,  November  21, 2005

Dear Sir,

I have the best job in the world. I spend my days with people who are honest, witty, kind, intelligent, compassionate, committed, passionate and respectful.

They enter my classroom – sometimes hundreds of them a day – and when they leave, we all depart having learnt something important not just from the academic curriculum but about ourselves and our place in the world.

I am a teacher and I come from a family of teachers. Together, we have touched the lives of hundreds of children around the globe. I am a teacher and every day, when I go to work, I affect change.

I am a teacher and I am surrounded by colleagues who care passionately about what they do and how they do it. My respect for them is boundless.

I read your commentary, Fr Sean Major-Campbell, on this International Day of Tolerance, and I watched the reactions of many of my colleagues. As a result, I decided that I want you to hear my voice loudly and clearly in this public arena.

You are right. There is no teachers’ association or union to protect us or speak for us here in the Cayman Islands. When someone casts a stone, as you have done, we very often take a direct hit and have no channel for recourse.

But I cannot and will not stand by and let your nonsensical comments go unchallenged. I am deeply troubled by your scathing attack on my profession, my colleagues and my friends.

I know of members of staff who lost everything in the hurricane and what did they do? They went straight back to work.

With no ceilings, no electricity, no resources, nowhere to go back to at the end of the day, and precious little to wear on their backs, they selflessly opened up the doors of education and, more importantly, the arms of compassion to returning students.

Every day, our teachers put on after school clubs, youth groups, extra study sessions, overseas trips, drama productions, choir, orchestra, art shows; they enter debates, counsel children in need and advocate on their behalf.

They discipline consistently and fairly, they lay down sanctions and consequences, they meet with parents, liaise with outside agencies, they work every weekend to mark and feedback, they plan their lessons and organize fieldtrips to keep education real.

The teachers that I know celebrate success: they cheer from the sidelines, they encourage students to challenge themselves never to accept mediocrity. The teachers that I know have a deep love and appreciation for the incredible young people that are in their charge and they take their responsibilities very seriously.

The teachers that I have had the honour and privilege of working with are committed professionals who rarely put their own needs before those of their students – they are well aware that they teach children, not subjects.
These teachers are invited to their students’ weddings and birthday parties, they send e-mails and letters to check how their first term at college went, and they attend funerals and mourn the loss of one of their own.

Fr Major-Campbell, we are not perfect, nor are we infallible. We make mistakes and we have errors of judgment. Yes, we get disgruntled when we feel attacked, under-valued and threatened. Sometimes we say and do the wrong things.

God forbid – occasionally we dress as individuals and eat apples in front of students! We have bad habits and sometimes we do not hide them well!

On a positive note, thankfully education has changed from the days of Dickens’ Mr. Gradgrind who believed that teachers should pour knowledge into the empty vessels who sat passively in rows in front of him.

We now recognise that students come to school already full: they have ideas, emotions, knowledge of the world, pre-existing conceptions and strong beliefs. It is our job to challenge and guide; to nurture and encourage; and to inspire and support.

As teachers, we too come to the classroom full. We are individuals, not automatons. We are not merely a conduit for pre-programmed data. We shape our information and our teaching for individuals not some unthinking, homogenous mass.

To suggest, Fr Sean, that teachers are in some way responsible for all the ills in society is unequivocally wrong. I wish we were that powerful!

Then, I would ensure that all my children were so strong, nothing could ever knock them down; I would magically build a society of love and respect and I would ensure that teachers were treated fairly with respect and appropriate remuneration.

Fr Sean, to suggest that the input of parents is somehow negated by what teachers do is insulting to them. We value our parents. We value their models of discipline and we welcome their participation in their children’s education.

We listen and follow the lead that they give. It may come as some surprise to you that, despite the stress and pressure of our work, some teachers are also parents. Parents should never be too busy to spend time with their children.

If that is the case, then there lies the ultimate ill in our society.

Juliet Austin
Teacher

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