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I was one of the three girls who walked through the throng of teachers protesting outside the Dail, holding a placard, which said "Fair Pay for Teachers" and I felt proud for supporting the teachers.
A Letter to ASTI and Minister Woods
Dear Members of ASTI and Minister Woods,As one single student writing this letter, I cannot speak for the rest of the nation's student's opinion, but I can voice my own. I want to express my feeling about these teacher strikes. In this rebellion against the government for a higher wage something has gone terribly wrong. If students strike, they are reprimanded and can also be arrested for picketing against the teacher strike, whereas the ASTI has permission to protest and picket outside the Dail? There's something amiss here.
Not that I'm for the student strikes, in fact I'm very much against it. I see no point in wasting the valuable time that the teachers do teach, standing in the cold with hand-drawn signs, which proclaim "We want to learn" or "Beep if You Support Us". But perhaps it's not the students' fault. After all, teachers pave the path to our future, the very path that Ireland's youth walk upon for the rest of their lives. We are taught that we have freedom of speech and also that we should stand up for what we believe in, and we often follow what teachers do in the hope of learning something new. Sometimes we follow in their footsteps, but I think, perhaps, this is directing students in the wrong way.
During the protest of December 5th 2000, I was one of the three girls who walked through the throng of teachers protesting outside the Dail, holding a placard, which said "Fair Pay for Teachers" and I felt proud for supporting the teachers. But the students that are now striking would not support the 6th Years then and yet claim to be supporting us now. For some, it was just another lucky day off to spend in bed. At first, I'll admit, I felt like that. But since receiving letters from various colleges, inviting me for interviews and portfolio submissions, I've realised that I'm unprepared. I need assistance in these things. As do several other Leaving Certificate students.
I'm writing while waiting anxiously for the 6 o'clock news, and for news of more possible strikes. I've just heard that the strikes are still going ahead. Ok, Minister Woods, please pay the teachers, enough is enough, this madness has gone too far. They deserve their pay-rise and all Leaving Certificate students deserve an education.
Therese Flanagan (6th Year), Rockford Manor Secondary School, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
Apathy, The Decay Of Reason And Civil Disorder
I'm just a little worried that all my fellow sixth year students are too busy studying and complaining on their days off to learn anything from the teacher strike. I've been thinking about the situation a bit and this is what I've come up with.The teacher strike is an example of minority power. If the six thousand striking teachers receive their demands it will mean that less than two percent of the population have succeeded in changing the laws of a "democratic" country. Interesting.
Is that unfair? We are constantly assaulted with advertisements. Advertising is the attempt to brainwash us into believing that what we're being sold is important. How is the majority expected to retain its ability to discern what is truly important among all this static? When the majority lacks reason how can they be relied upon to act fairly? Or even to care enough to act at all? Is minority power the last resort of reason in our apathetic society?
The teachers are striking because they're unhappy. They're unhappy because they don't believe that they are paid fairly. The government has the resources to remove their grievance but is unwilling to do so. This suggests that the Irish government values money more than it does the wellbeing of those in its care. I see.
Does anyone wish good things on others anymore? Has saving a few quid become a triumph? The only triumph I can think of is increased happiness. I don't really want to live in a country were a thing, money, is considered more important than fairness and wellbeing. I must be truly naive to believe that governments should be run like a community not a business.
For society as a whole to have profit as its motive is ridiculous. Profit has to become a means to an end not the end. Our government has to stop focusing on the economic needs of those in its care and start focusing on their human needs. If people amount to more outside this economic empire, than they do inside it, then anarchy is logical. Isn't minority power a type of anarchy? Does anyone else think it's justified?
One more thing: the student walk outs. Why are these treated as an unusual development? For any strike to work it has to annoy people to the point where their apathy is overcome and they act. The students apathy has been overcome and they are acting. Good, hopefully, this is a sign that the governments apathy will soon be overcome. When the government overcomes their apathy then they will act and the matter will finally be resolved. A strike that doesn't annoy anybody is simply a publicity stunt. I believe that the student walk outs are simply a step on the road towards the resolution of the issue.
Oisin Horgan, Skerries CC
