strike.

Teachers here are on strike for a month already. They want better salaries and a “reform” in the educational system whatever a “reform” may be. They don’t teach, they protest in the streets, raise political slogans, led by syndicate leaders, and create havoc in the country. They demand a 100% increase, not a penny less. They threaten that the school year will be ruined if they do not receive the raise. Riding the strike, many “politicians” use these demands to initiate a vote for non-confidence for the government. The government responds with threats for high inflation and scary resolutions of the Monetary Fund.

In the same time school kids from different ages invade computer clubs, cafes and pubs. The Emergency Room of tone of  the big hospitals reported for 27 cases of alcohol poisoning of minors. The kids can’t write properly, they don’t know who Darwin was, they haven’t heard of John Atanassov, but are experts in the bloody computer games, they smoke and fight, they solve problems with brute force.

Being a counselor, I find myself somewhere in the middle – on one hand I support the demands of the teachers. Noone can live with the symbolic dole they get every month, they need to have their minds liberated from the grim thoughts how to make ends meet in order to focus on research, innovation in teaching, and pedagogical improvement. On the other hand, however, is that the example they should show to their students? Led by their anxiety to have better life they abandon the mission of their profession – to teach and enlighten the young souls that are in the class.

Hopefully, the government and the syndicates are near to the compromise and classes will resume soon. But how to tell who of the teachers deserved the raise and who didn’t?