Re: Ida Tamberline’s letter to the editor “Teachers in it for selves” (Tribune, Jan.
I wanted to express my thoughts and tell you some stories about my experiences with the teachers in Guelph.
I would like to start off by stating that I’m 22 years old, born and raised in Guelph, and went through the French immersion stream.  I spend as much time as I can volunteering throughout various schools in the city. My goal is to become a teacher, and I hope to inspire my students the way I was inspired as a kid.
The letter talks about how the teachers are selfish, how they don’t do it for the kids.  When I was in Grade 12, I had some severe health issues, which kept me away from school for months at a time. I had several teachers who would drive to my house after school and drop off my work. Tell me how that’s being selfish.
Tell me how all the get-well letters, all the positive encouragement and support I received was selfish. How can the letter writer generalize and stereotype a group of people who bent over backwards for me and believed in me when I had given up?
It’s the union that decided to pull the extracurricular activities as a bargaining chip, not the teachers. It was mandatory to have a one-day strike. This was not optional.
Teachers are being instructed to give up these things. They are told to do only what they are getting paid to do, and that is teaching during school hours. Everything before and after school and during the lunch hours is out of the goodness of their hearts.
They do it for the students. There’s no denying that. This is an issue with the government, not the teachers.
Students stand behind their teachers, because they know what kind of people they really are. They know that their teachers only want what’s best for them. It upsets me to know that so many teachers are going to read your letter and not be able to say anything without the possibility of repercussions.
I would like to thank all Guelph teachers for everything you do. All the extra time and effort you guys put into your work is appreciated. To all of my former teachers, thank you for your guidance, and for believing in me. Thank you for allowing me to volunteer in your classrooms and for continuing to inspire me long after your job is done.
Leandra Hutchins
Guelph