The Ontario College Strike

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Both University and College have their pros and cons, which I can attest to cause I've been in both. I find they complement each other very well, at least they do in regards to my field of study. Where one lacks, the other fills in the gaps, and an increasing amount of students are taking both for that reason (going from graduating University to College for a year or two) It's been said before, but it's true, College is more practical and hands-on. The business admin cirriculum is heavily influenced by outside businesses so it can accurately reflect the reality and what is needed to participate in the work force. I'm sure the Universitys are like that too, but this is moreso, and it's a lot more up-to-date, imo.

 

College teachers have a much heavier workload, though, and get paid less for it. In college, for the most part, teachers have one-on-one interaction with the students and *gasp* even know their name. I gave one of my teachers a bunch of MMA tapes and CD's cause his nephew was into it, we also had a discussion about the early days of UFC with Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock. They also have to put up with a lot more shit, in terms of marking and also dealing with students, both in class and out. The workload in College is much heavier than in Universities. In University I hear people complain about writing 8-10 page essays when it College is was more about writing 25, 60, 100 pages. But that wasn't theory stuff, this was business plans, marketing plans, proposals, etc. You know, actual relevant stuff.

 

But then again, those teachers don't have to have the same amount of qualifications as a University Professor. I think I only had one teacher in College that had a PhD. Most were teaching what they were teaching because they had a background in it, which is also the case with profs. So I guess you get paid what you are worth.

 

In general, I think I've learned more in University, but I did more in College. University is more intensive when it comes to a learning/class ratio, as you rarely ever cover the same thing twice, whereas College is a bit slower. But while I never felt that I was learning something useless, a lot of the stuff I learned in Uni never felt useful. I still have a ways to go, but thus far, everything we are learning we aren't learning how to solve. It's more identifying problems, why the problems are happening, and the theory behind it, and less how to deal with the problems and solve them. College was more about solving the problem and the alternatives to choose from.

 

College profs get paid less for a higher teaching workload because they arn't being paid to do research.

[Red Baron 0]

Yes, but the problems is the College profs do care about the students unlike Univerisities which they are more educated about their studies than the student itself.

 

All of my profs are in, or experience in that particular area of study. Minus the English and Accounting my Law teacher is actually a Mayor, my Transportation Infrastructure teacher works for customs, my Development of Tourism teacher is the only teacher I have met that has a PhD.

 

RRR is right about how much work college students have. Like my report I stated earlier is up to 40 pages (filled with graphs and charts) yet I haven't even touched the Powerpoint aspect of it yet.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

I agree with the strike. They teachers, at least some, do have TOO MUCH to do. I'm taking film, in Northern Ontario (I think it's been a great program thus far, by the way), and it's ridiculous because we have to set up meetings with our teacher to discuss and plan our films before we go out and shoot them, and the booking sheet for meetings would be full two minutes after he posted it. It's because there's too many students in the class, so we're all left scraping for time with the instructor. It's not that he doesn't allot enough time either, he's pretty much open for meetings any time during the week that he doesn't have a class, when we get into shooting season.

 

The strike isn't so much about money, as it is about smaller class sizes, and a larger teacher to student ratio. I totally agree and side with the teachers on the issue, as I've experienced first hand how difficult it is with the way things are right now.

 

On the plus side, the strike has given me a great topic for my Doc, coming soon to a bingo hall near you

[Red Baron 0]

What college do you go to Twizted?

 

Good ol' Niagara for me.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

Confederation

[Red Baron 0]

Apparently talks are underway right now, but I really hope that they don't come to an agreement, because there is no fucking way I'm going to school without getting something re-embursed from the college.

[Red Baron 0]

Apparently both sides have now decided to go with arbitration to settle this strike

[CanadianChris 0]

Apparently both sides have now decided to go with arbitration to settle this strike

Did they finally agree on what kind of arbitration? I heard on the radio this morning that they couldn't even agree on that, and laughed my ass off.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

Final Offer Selection - is a type of arbitration under the College's Collective Bargaining Act, where a neutral third party would look at both offers on the table and choose one or the other in its entirity.

 

Voluntary Binding Arbitration - is where an appointed arbitrator would also look at both offers on the table and choose the good and the bad from each offer to make a new agreement that both sides would have to live with. The arbitrators decision is final.

 

Management suggested final offer, and the teachers rejected it. Teachers want Voluntary binding. lolz.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

TORONTO – The strike by 9,100 college faculty continues until college management agrees to voluntary binding arbitration, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.

 

Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities said today that the strike should end because both parties have agreed to arbitration. This is not the case, said OPSEU bargaining team chair Ted Montgomery.

 

“Mr. Bentley indicated that the parties have agreed to arbitration,” said Montgomery. “We have not. The union proposed arbitration. Management is insisting on final offer selection, a process that is tantamount to flipping a coin.

 

“We are not in a position to take down picket lines without a clear agreement on voluntary binding arbitration.

 

“We researched final offer selection and in every document we found, every expert says it is inappropriate for this type of negotiation. We will not agree to final offer selection. We will agree to arbitration.”

 

So there you have it, strike continues.

[CanadianChris 0]

That's what I thought.

[Red Baron 0]

If nothing is done by Monday, I'm saying so long to the semester.

 

At Niagara College we don't have anymore exams for our classes which that means out of the one exam I do have, I have none.

[Red Baron 0]

Wow, people actually think that the arbitration did something and "experts" think we are going to school soon.

 

Ha!

 

They're fucking miles apart on this and no deal is coming soon.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

We're back in school on Monday.

[Red Baron 0]

Um...huh?

 

So, what is my next three weeks of classes going to be like, because there's no way I'm packin in 7 weeks of classes in half.

 

And of course, am I getting money back from this, not just tuition, but my fucking time, gas, food, materials, etc... because if I get nothing back, students better step up and actually have some balls and do something about it.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

They're going to decide on a program by program basis on what to do to make up the time. Some will just continue on, some will do tests or labs, and some will have an extra 2 weeks of school in May. I also heard rumors of next year's winter break being cut short to make up time, or going back early in september. Though, since the strike only lasted 3 weeks, and not 4, I don't think alot is going to be done about it. As for refunds... I doubt students will see anything. We're pretty much screwed for what we missed the past 3 weeks. Students at my college only missed 2 weeks, as the strike fell the week prior to our spring break.

 

The strike was actually a good thing for me, as I had time to work on film shoots, and my doc, which otherwise I have no idea how I'd get done if I was attending classes, because I was pretty much out working on something every day of the strike.

 

I do hope we don't extend the semester into the summer, though. I need to work and save up some cash.