Thanks Steele, absolutely spot on. I suggest we get these Old Farts, Hasbeen, ttbn, etc, to act as the "canary in the coal mine". Get one each to sit all day in the classroom, they've got little else to do, should they keel over then sound the hooter, everyone OUT!

I can just see it now;

Teacher; "Billy please check on Mr Hasbeen, he seems to be rocking around in his chair."

Billy; "I don't know miss, he seems very gar-gar."

Teacher; "That's okay, he's always like that.....OH NO! Mr Hasbeen has keeled over...Jimmy sound the HOOTER!

"These people are dedicated educators", come on SR pull the other one. I had quite a bit to do with high school teachers up until recently.

My lady & I established & ran for 12 years, the P&C associations school text book hire scheme at our local 1700 pupil high school. This scheme saved parents about 50% of text book costs, while putting over $200,000 in P&C funding into the school each year.

We had to order the books required for next year, both text books & class sets in September, to get them in a timely manner for the dozen or more volunteers to have them covered & cataloged in time for the new year. Books ordered in October rarely arrived before January 15Th in the new year, making it impossible to have them ready for distribution at the start of the school year.

Heads of departments were responsible in giving us their requirements for the next year, in a timely manner. These should have been the most reliable & competent teachers in the school, but I could count on the fingers of one hand the number who did this job reliably over the years.

It would require all my fingers & toes, plus all yours to count the number who regularly required hounding to get these requirements advised before they went off on their summer holidays. Many would not have lasted a month in private employment, & these were the managers.

Those same HODs would come whinging when we could not get delivery of the books they found they needed for a couple of months in the new year.

Dedicated SR, you must be joking or perhaps you have never met a school teacher at work.

unions always have been a law to themselves. Usually members are not nearly as productive as non members. Glad its ok for the check out chics to work. Be pretty hungry if they decided not to.

I know a teacher whose son has an illness
(can't remember the name of it). He has to be
injected with insulin. Anyway she's terrified
if her son caught the virus - he apparently has
no immunity to illness. She's a dedicated teacher,
but I'd hate to be in her shoes.

Teachers like other professionals are also human
beings with families and people they have to care
for. We can't be so selfish as to not feel any
empathy for others and only think of ourselves and
our families.

That's not what Australians do. At least not the ones
I love and know.

'Teachers like other professionals are also human
beings with families and people they have to care
for. We can't be so selfish as to not feel any
empathy for others and only think of ourselves and
our families.'

true Foxy but I suspect with the tens of thousands of Police they have the same challenges. Nurses and doctors are at highest risk. My own son works in an icu unit. Individual cases can be dealt with but I thought you were one to 'believe the science'. Or is that only when it suites. Teachers should do their job or not be paid.

Hassy, nice to see you did have a selfless bone in your body, doing what you did for those school children.

"Usually (union) members are not nearly as productive as non members" What a load of crap runner.

Foxy, he might have complications caused by 'type one diabetes' a school friend of my oldest some had that, and he was very susceptible to serious infection, there were many food he couldn't eat. The 'common cold' could put him in hospital for a week. In those days they had a week long school camp, outdoors down around Canberra in winter, just imagine the conditions. It was a week of constant rain, several boys including that boy, he so wanted to go, had to be evacuated out, due to illness.
I often wonder why? Sons friend with his condition, then his mother had a stroke in her early 30's, just survived. Dad had to give up work and go on a pension to look after her, and their two boys