Students in TDSB Schools are Missing Out: So What?

Written by Isabel Snare
Edited by Noor Khan
Cover Image by Angelina Tseng

On November 4, 2022, tens of thousands of education workers in the Toronto District School Board system walked out of their jobs, leaving schools with no choice but to keep students home for the following two school days. The so-called “political protest” was led by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE); members of the union were outraged after Premier Doug Ford made the controversial decision to enact Bill 28, thereby illegalizing all strikes and walkouts. Despite new restrictions and corresponding fines and punishments for engaging in strike-related activity, many workers decided to walk out, threatening to abandon their jobs until the Bill is repealed. They argue that the Bill takes away their collective voice, and that it is only the first breach of their rights to come.

Prime Minister Trudeau has publicly announced his opposition to Ford’s decision. Yet despite his supposed agreeance with the CUPE workers, he hasn’t yet taken action to support this.

Many parents of TDSB students were outraged with the school closures that came along with these strikes. Much of this frustration stemmed from the fact that education for the students had already been consistently disrupted for the past two years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet unfortunately, without the support from the many workers who walked out, schools were deemed unsafe, leaving students to revert to asynchronous online learning at home.

All of this left a lot of people confused about the reasoning behind the strikes. Although the answer may vary depending on who you ask, there are three main reasons that seem to motivate those who participate in strikes.

Number one is, quite simply, money. It may seem naïve to draw all of this back to money, but it’s true. Our society relies on and revolves around the amount in our accounts, the number printed on the shiny paper in our wallets, the price tag slapped on houses, cars, food. It’s common knowledge that everyone wants money, but not everybody gets it. So in recent years, it’s come to be that when salaries get neglected, people speak up. What starts as asking for a raise can quickly turn into protests, especially in the case of a whole industry or occupation where people feel wages are unfair.

But that’s not all people have advocated for by going on strike. The second reason why many strike is to advocate for their rights. When some people feel they are being treated unjustly, or that their efforts are not being sufficiently acknowledged, they may feel the need to advocate for a change.

However, the final significant motivator of TDSB strikes, in particular, has always been the students. On November 4, CUPE members claimed that part of the reason they were walking out was that they don’t feel there is enough provincial support for students in the schools where they work. They insisted that the government should be doing and investing more in TDSB schools.

It’s not the first time that teachers, educators, and other workers involved in the TDSB system have said that, at the end of the day, everything—the strikes, the walkouts, the protesting—is all “for the students.” During the 2019-2020 work-to-rule strike, the entire campaign seemed to be focused on “students’ wellbeing”. From pins and posters emblazoned with the words “Here For Students”, to speeches about how education cuts “hurt kids”, we aren’t new to the idea. But really, beneath it all, do people who go on strike really think much about their students at all? Could it be that “doing it for the kids” is just a ruse, a ploy, a more socially acceptable excuse for going on strike?

Amid the political and social chaos of the walkouts, it seems that one party—and arguably, the most important one—has been forgotten. The students themselves.

Whether or not the CUPE members realise it or not—whether the consequences of their actions are unintentional, or merely ignored—these strikes, both recent and otherwise, are not helping the students.

In late 2019 to early 2020, I was a sixth grade student at a TDSB school. I had applied to Havergal, and I was waiting anxiously for news from the school, just like many of my peers today had been. In the meantime, before I received my acceptance letter, I was trying my best to enjoy school. It may have been a few years ago now, but I remember my last year at the public school I attended clearly. All sports teams, clubs, and activities had been cancelled. I remember being disappointed about not having the opportunity to play on the flag football team with my friends.

But the point of this story isn’t about me. It’s about the kids whose guardians couldn’t afford for them to participate in activities outside of school. The kids who weren’t mere months away from transferring to a private school, where they wouldn’t have to deal with the repercussions of striking.

Now that I’ve attended Havergal for over two years, I’ve become more aware of the stark differences between a private school education and a public one. If you’ve made it this far, you can probably tell that, as with any big issue, this can’t be solved with the snap of a finger or the click of a heel. There are multiple sides to every story, and obviously there is no clear, or right, solution here.

The fact of the matter is that the strikes are going to keep happening. TDSB students are going to continue to be confined to their homes, receiving instructions for an hour’s worth of work for the day on Google Classroom. And we—the students privileged enough to go to a school with outstanding teachers, facilities, resources, and opportunities available to us—are going to keep going to school, keep learning, and keep excelling.

No, it’s not our responsibility to solve this problem by the end of the month, or to make everything magically okay. But as students in the position we are in, it is our responsibility to stay educated, to be compassionate, and to open our eyes, minds, and hearts to things we might not fully understand or have experienced. By doing so, we open up the doors to positive change; and eventually, a solution.

Source: CBC Canada. (2022, November 5). Strike or political protest? Ontario takes Education Workers' Union to Labour Board amid Friday walkout | CBC news. CBC News. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cupe-strike-education-ontario-schools-closed-1.6640386.