I enjoyed reading the letter, “proud to be a teacher” by Victor Mario Abela (24 June). But Mr Abela is making a big assumption. He is thinking that all teachers are as dedicated and exhausted in their work as he used to be years ago, leaving him with no free time at all and never giving private lessons. I augur well to Mr Abela in his present studies at University and wish him scores of added years to his life. For later on, I hopefully propose that a college will also be named for such a role model person.

Unfortunately, all the teachers I know are not like Mr Abela!

The Editorial of this paper (20 June) was, “Order in the classroom”. It’s nice to sympathize with teachers and also give them the benefit of the doubt. It is true that now-a-days, much ever than before, many children are crafty, rude and whatever, with parents ready to pounce on the poor teachers. However, one should not give the impression as if teaching is the only unbearable job that exists.

So, when am I going to see editorials sympathizing with the hard work health professions have to face at hospitals and health centres? We all know as patients, how unbearable it is when we have an appointment at hospital or when it is time to pick up our medicines from government pharmacies. So, imagine these health professionals who always have to face this stress, day after day, and sometimes even having to face situations of ‘stop leave’ at certain nice periods of the year. On the contrary, instead of sympathizing with these professionals, when we see figures of brain drain in health, everybody seems to turn against these people. What compensations do these professions have for their stressful and highly responsible work?

The same editorial says, “students are able to assess teachers’ weakness more than is thought”. I agree with this statement. But why are teachers weak in the first place? The fact that the B.Ed (Hons) course leading Secondary Education is attracting far much more students than for Primary Education, proves my hypothesis that many candidates opt for a teaching career not because of the great vocation they have inside themselves (as Mr Abela had) but because of the attractive working conditions it offers. So this can explain why we have weak teachers who, unfortunately, cannot control their classes.

However, once they become qualified teachers, they obviously do not admit what made them take this job in the first place, and surprisingly, all start complaining about the hardship of teaching, immaterial of what subjects they deliver, class size and number of classes they have, and immaterial also of the fact that nobody is denying their hardship in the first place. But then, what surprises me is: what’s taking them so long to publish their percentage resignation figures?

What I certainly disagree with Mr Abela is when he justifies holidays and half days as a result for our hot climate in Summer. As far as I know, every worker is of flesh and blood and feels the summer heat. Or shall we say that the Sun is hotter on schools?! I wonder what would be their next excuse in defending their gratis half days and holidays, had the minister invest in AC’s for every classroom!

Anyway, enjoy your holidays and remember those less fortunate workers. Oops … probably, school holidays will be longer this year as the new influenza (previously known as Swine Flu) is believed to strike at it’s highest in October when schools are supposed to open their doors.

C. Micallef

Zebbug