The Marysville teachers’ strike was just another example of an attitude of entitlement that seems to be a Washington state motto. Now the students have to give up their summer to make up for the selfishness of the teachers. I think the students should just say no, we won’t go to school on our time. If the teachers can unionize, then so should the students.
If some parents did not expect the teachers to baby-sit their children, then the parents should allow their kids to take the summer off. Parents and teachers are very poor examples in the eyes of children as to how adults should behave. It is no wonder that no one takes any responsibility for their actions these days. Parents say that teachers do not do their job and teachers say parents as taxpayers have to pay them more money. Students are caught in the middle. Students see it as not about learning or about their welfare but about money and getting them out of their parents’ hair.
I believe students should find a way to organize themselves so they may have a say in the decisions that are supposedly made with their best interests in mind. If I were one of the teachers or parents within the Marysville school system, I would at least be very ashamed and embarrassed for my extremely immature behavior. If your concerns are only money then you need to get a different career. Students need to tell their parents and teachers that they do not like being pawns for a system that does not respect them as individuals. I am very sure that if students could vote, the teachers would have thought twice about striking and subsequently stealing the students’ summer from them.
The students will become “adults” some day. Do we want to continue to perpetuate a cycle of a “you owe me” society? I hope not.
Joe Kikel
Arlington
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