Kevin Myers: Teachers have given us all a harsh lesson -- in laziness [Independent.ie]
- Published: 07 December 2010
Cut to the chase; why were all our schools shut down for the first 10 days of real winter? Was there a hidden paragraph in the Croke Park deal which no one outside the teaching profession noticed, namely:
"When teachers do not feel conditions are quite right for teaching, our schools shall be shut until the unions feel they should be open. Teachers shall still be paid for their time off, but shall not be expected to make good the lost teaching time during their annual holidays."
I already know the teachers' reaction to this column: shrill and angry. When they had their conferences last Easter, my name was invoked (as was John Walshe's) as a hate-figure. That teachers might still be living in a wholly unreal world -- as indeed is the entire public sector under the shelter of that infamous and unprincipled capitulation to union-power -- was not even considered back then. No, indeed: those who say it is raining, with hurricanes to come, are apparently the wicked ones. Blame them, not the weather.
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