Dear editor,I’m rolling on the floor laughing at your headline “BCTF doesn’t promote any political party”, on Larry Field’s May 1, 2012 letter.A few years ago, a Black Press interviewer tried to get the president of the BCTF to talk about what she was doing for students and teachers. Despite repeated questioning, all she did was spout neo-Marxist political slogans. It is clear than in B.C. the Green and NDP parties are explicitly based on Marxist economic presumptions, thus will get the support of the BCTF.That’s not surprising, and wouldn’t be wrong as such in a free market protected by a justice system. But it is wrong in the B.C. near-monopoly situation, and may even backfire when the coming NDP government has to cut the budget.Similarly, when I asked the president of the union of BC Ferries workers what the union was doing for safety, I was referred to a website promoting change of government, instead of to things like education, teamwork, and removal of members who won’t perform their job well and help others learn.Field seems to be mistaking the BCTF’s version of “data and information on public education” with balanced statements.Of course the BC Liberal party and the assorted Conservative ones have their own ideology, also one of controlling people for the “public good” and of favouring their particular friends (who tend to be businesses rather than the unions the Green and NDP parties favour).B.C. education has suffered from politics of both major stripes for decades, though several premiers, education ministers, and union presidents. Meanwhile, many parents are stretching their budgets to pay for private schooling of their children.Nothing will change until voters elect officials who will treat teachers fairly for quality educational work, and dismiss those who don’t perform. And until honest teachers elect union officials who will work constructively for teachers instead of Hugo Chavez.Keith Sketchley,Saanich
