Educators merit a greater remuneration

Teachers: can't live with them, can't learn without them. They are the topic of many bitch sessions between students around the school but really do they deserve such treatment? Shouldn't we be handing them awards, patting them on the back and thanking them for what they have done for us? After all they have armed us with the greatest power of all: knowledge. Knowledge is power. And another saying goes: children are the future, so how does the government repay those who will ensure in a better New Zealand tomorrow? No trophies or shiny certificates but with substandard wages that and what seems to be a cold shoulder to those who ask for more.

College teachers recently had a union meeting to discuss such issues (which meant we had a half day-yay!) not surprisingly not many students took much interest in the actual content of the meeting, they were just hoping that the teachers would go on strike like they did in April 2002 so we wouldn't have to go to school. This however is improbable which I found out after a discussion with my school's principal and my French class.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that Mr. Leach was going to be the reliever for my first period French class. Being the nice man he is he chatted with us about numerous subjects and the natural flow of conversation brought us to the topic of teacher's wages. He recalled when he first started teacher some 30 odd years ago that a teacher fresh from teacher's college got a pretty decent pay and once the teacher got to the highest level of teaching about ten years later, they were paid the same as a backbencher in parliament. It safe to say that this is no longer the same today as a teacher's wages has gone down and one of parliament’s benchwarmers gets a lot more. He said that a new high school teacher is paid the same wages as a new police officer. Of course he, and so do the rest of us, respects and appreciates the job that our police force do for us but this is comparing doing three years of uni and one year of teacher's college to a six week course.

Are teachers worth as much as police officers? Some may say that a police officer is a better contribution to society as they provide protection and safety of the community but I beg to differ.

The proverb knowledge is power basically speaks for itself. By learning and knowing you are able to understand the world around you and know where you want to fit yourself into it. By getting the biggest picture of it you can see where you want to go and what you want to do. This is what teachers provide us with. Although lots of what we learn can't be directly applied to real life situations (like being able to draw a parabola, seriously who uses this?) it allows us to see that there is so much more out there. How does this contribute to society? Teachers are an important part of a students life, whether we like it or not, and aid in shaping us into the people we will become. Because teachers aren't evil (well most aren't) they do not intentionally negatively influence their students to become bad people. Those who fall through the gap and miss the opportunities that education gives them can find themselves facing the long arm of the law. Police officers are merely the band-aid to the graze of society's criminals where as teachers are the knee-pads that prevent the injury. Where education is high crime is low and vice versa. Should we be investing in knee-pads or a packet of plasters?

If the government were to spend more money on teachers there would be a smaller need for police officers. Better educations lead to better futures. I believe high quality teachers are vital part of our society and should be paid in proportion to the job they do for us. In 2002 the high school teachers of New Zealand went on strike to make the government listen to their request for a bigger paycheck but it's obvious that they aren't listening as it is an issue that is still being raised today in 2007.

Just 'cos I don't f**k everything that has a cock...

It was earlier this week that my younger sister, who is 15, found herself in health class in a doing group work with people she doesn't really like. They had a visit from the people at Family Planning! They were talking about safe sex and contraception, as you do, and she realised that all the other girls in her group were on The Pill.... Hm. She finished this ancedote with "Just 'cos I don't fuck everything with a cock." This made me laugh, then it got me thinking.

Can teenagers have a healthy sex life?

To be honest this isn't my question. I stole it off the news from a couple of months ago when the question was posed by someone who obviously studies teenager's sex lives. They answered with: Yes. As a teen I think No.

Personally the thought of two people rubbing their bits together repulses me slightly especially when these two people barely know the other. I can barely hold a conversation with someone I don't know let alone touch them, and when I mean touch them I mean like pat them on the shoulder so you can see why the thought of casual sex grosses me out. What I find hard to believe is that sex is a part of teen's lives now. No, wait. I can believe it, I just don't know how they don't think sex is a big deal. No, wait. I do know how sex can be seen as normal.

I once read this book (fictional), the name of which completely escapes me, about a guy doing a project about sex for a science competition in which he interviews all these people to find out what their experiences were like. The people he interviewed saw that the first time having sex was like immunisation shot * (well that's the vibe I was getting when he interviewed his mother.). He wanted his best friend (who was a girl) to have sex with him so he could find out what it was like and he said he would pay her for being a big part of the film but I think something happened and they didn't end up doing it. The only character I didn't really believe was the "hot popular girl" for the following reasons: "Hot popular girl" fell in love with the protagonist "geeky" guy, she had posters of scientist like Einstein and Newton (if I remember correctly) on her bedroom wall and lastly she TALKED to these posters about "geeky" guy... WHAT?! Let's digress from the topic of this post.
Who has posters of scientists on their walls??? Not even I or my friends, who are perceived as very sciency, have posters of scientist on their walls. One: Where do you get these posters from? It's not like they have Mary Curie in the posters rack at Sounds. Two: Why would you want these posters? It's not like they were very interesting to look at. Three: She's the "hot popular girl"... I think that's enough said.

I remember when I was in yr 8 there was a boy in my class who said that couldn't wait until he was 16 so that he could go to a party and have sex with a random hot chick. His mother had him when she was 16 he boasted. I can see where he got his eagerness from.

What was I saying again? Casual sex and teenagers. Well in my opinion, even though I haven't really expressed it well, I think that teenagers today are growing up twice as fast as they have in previous years. This has been brought on by our constant communication with each other and the global community as well as becoming aware of adult behaviours at a young age through TV. Though this may bring many good points such as being able to have vaild opinions on important issues I don't think that having casual sex is one of those good points. How can sex be healthy for teenagers when it can mess people up? Of course the obvious STD/Is you can get from sleeping around can screw you up but there are also the social implications. You are labeled a slut/whore/player for sleeping around and can lose friendships and relationships through doing so. I think it's stupid to cause trouble and having sex with random people is definitely something that causes trouble. There's a reason we have sex and that is to make babies. So I think it's a stupid idea to play with fire unless you want to get burnt.

I haven't even really begun on this topic. I will post something else later. Keep an eye out.

*Sorry that sentence doesn't really make sense.