March 14, 2006
College management
ready to sacrifice quality
A plan
by college presidents to guarantee that students will not lose their
semester merely proves what faculty have said all along about
education quality, faculty bargaining team chair Ted Montgomery says.
“By their
latest statements, the presidents have made it clear that they would
rather sacrifice education quality than settle the strike,” Montgomery
said. “College management thinks so little of students’ education that
they are prepared to give them a diploma or certificate or degree with
much of the curriculum uncovered.”
The
presidents will use newspaper ads tomorrow to pledge that all students
will get their year.
Presidents’ spokesperson Rick Miner says each college will develop its
own plan. Algonquin president Robert Gillett said yesterday that the
colleges will figure out the essential work required for each course.
Management will even teach classes if required, Gillett told Broadcast
News.
The idea
is preposterous, said Montgomery.
“Everyone
needs to consider: Is it really possible for supervisors to take all
of their classes?” Montgomery said. “The time alone makes it
impossible and the skill sets required make the whole idea a complete
farce.”
The only
way for the colleges to save the year and maintain education quality
is to get back to the bargaining table, Montgomery said.
“OPSEU
has repeatedly invited management to return to the bargaining table
with a better offer than the one that produced the strike,” he said.
“They have not responded.
“College
faculty are on strike because college management has failed to table
an offer that will benefit college students.”
Students
will be the real losers from the presidents’ scheme, he said.
“This
proposal, cloaked as a help to students, actually makes them the
long-term scapegoats. If the colleges proceed with their plan, the
value of Ontario college diplomas and degrees may never recover. This
year’s graduates will be the poster children for all the flaws,
weaknesses, and failures that Bob Rae pointed out in the colleges.
“Would
you want to be cared for by the 2006 grad nurse who had missed the
last half of the last term?” Montgomery asked.
“Faculty
need to give students lots of attention now to show them that the
quality of their education is what we are fighting for.”
On the line at Collège Boréal with Timmins-James
Bay MPP Gilles Bisson (second from left)
