What It Means To Me When You Support Teachers

Today, I experienced two things with respect to the current teachers' job action and resulting lockout by the employers' organization, and I want to share them here. 

First, I got to sit at my children's parent-participation preschool, quietly embroidering and listening to several mothers voicing their support for teachers, and frustration with the government for their refusal to "step up and do right by our kids". Now, I did wonder if I should speak up and add my voice to the conversation, but I held back, because I didn't want to influence what they said in light of the knowledge that I'm a teacher's wife. So I just sat there, watching my kids play and keeping an ear open to hear what the climate is among parents. It was so heartening to hear positive comments, not just about their kids' teachers, but also the union's position, and how they understand that what teachers are trying to bargain for is reasonable work conditions and fair compensation for the years of education and professional training teachers undergo, and continue to undergo in order to best serve the children entrusted to their care.

The second was a gesture of such unwavering support and generosity as to make me weep. We had purchased an item from a friend, and were in the process of repaying the debt when that debt was wiped clear along with a simple, beautiful statement of encouragement. I cried when I tried to tell Hubby about it; I could hear him crying over the phone, too. In fact, I'm having trouble seeing the keyboard through the tears flowing freely down my face again as I type this. Our benefactor understands what teachers do, and this gift means as much to us in terms of the support it shows as it does in the financial relief it provides.


As the wife of a BC public school teacher, I hear a lot of comments, both positive and negative about this issue. Let me be clear - I'm not saying that I don't want to hear dissenting opinions; I am happy to converse with people in a civil manner on any number of topics, so long as we keep it polite. I try to receive the negative without returning fire or responding with anger, because I feel that this is not worth damaging personal relationships. In the case of online/social media comments, I conduct myself with temperance. In the face of willful ignorance or just plain hatred, I have simply not responded, or, if the individual in question simply cannot be respectful or civil, I have blocked them from my newsfeed until this is resolved, because the stress and anxiety it creates for me is more than I really need to have on my plate right now. I have not yet had to resort to blocking a person entirely.

The last time teachers went out, there was far more enmity directed at teachers than I have seen thus far. That alone is an encouragement to me. So what does it mean to me when you say or do something that shows you support teachers?

Let me tell you...

It means that you validate the 11 years my husband spent in university learning what he did in order to impart that to his students; it means that the professional certification he worked to attain means something to you, that you feel his hard work to get, keep and improve upon this certification is worth what he gets paid. It means that you might feel a touch of the pride I do in him; it means that you think that he and his colleagues are worthy of the trust you place in them when you entrust your children to their care. It means that your children's future matters to you, and that you want them to get the most out of their high school years as is possible. It means that this crazy-haired, medieval clothes-wearing, Old English-speaking dude is worth investing your tax dollars in, because he's the guy that your kids are going to be talking about 20 years from now as the teacher that inspired them to go into teaching themselves, or to let their geek flag fly, or to be themselves and to hell with what other people think of them.

I am grateful for every single positive comment and expression of support, mostly because this whole process wears down the best and most positive of people, and those little things are what keep us going some days.






 To those of you who support the teachers in their support of the children of BC, I cannot thank you enough for that. It means more than you know.