A song written and performed by a 16-year-old student about the B.C. teachers' strike is burning up Facebook.
Hailey Klein, who should be in Grade 11 at Maple Ridge's Garibaldi Secondary School, sings about her frustrations with the labour dispute, while playing her guitar. Her song includes the verse:
I don't want to live in a century that thinks we can learn off technology
Let's fire all the teachers, give a kid a computer, and hope they turn out all right
Or let's just load the classes up even more so we can barely close the door
Saving green, fulfilling greed, to buy more things we don't need.
Klein said she hopes her song will get the provincial government's attention so politicians can see how the contract dispute is affecting students.
"I wrote [the song] because I think it is ridiculous and [the strike] shouldn't be allowed to impact the children who haven't asked for this to happen. We had no say and are being treated like we aren't important by the government," she told The Huffington Post B.C. in an email.
Klein is the lead in a school musical and rehearsals are being cut back because students are not allowed into the building to practice. "[It] will put a lot of stress on me because now I have a smaller time limit to learn lines, dances, songs, blocking, everything. And on top of that, [I will] have school work and possibly longer days," she said.
She added that she's also worried about her grades this year.
Klein posted a video of her performing the song (watch above) to Facebook, where it's being shared widely.
Public school teachers in B.C. have been on strike since late June. The current school year has already been delayed by two weeks, and counting.
A veteran mediator has pronounced the two sides too far apart to wrangle a deal.
Both the government and union have attempted to get concessions from the other over the past two weeks as the power struggle has played out through the media.
With files from The Canadian Press
Lyrics of Haley Klein's song
So you're tryin' to make the teachers look bad
But can't you just stop, it's kinda sad
And I don't want to put up with it, I'm tired of our government
Where does all our taxes go?
A bit for the roads and the rest out the window
Do they even care about what we want cuz I'm pretty sure they do not
They've lost the court twice but still won't open their eyes
But they don't go to school so I guess who could blame them
Like, who cares what we're going through.
I don't want to live in a century that thinks we can learn off technology
Let's fire all the teachers, give a kid a computer, and hope they turn out all right
Or let's just load the classes up even more so we can barely close the door
Saving green, fulfilling greed, to buy more things we don't need.
Well I'm literally doing nothing but sitting here
Cuz I'm not sure if schools gonna start tomorrow or in a year
But if you're under 12, you are making 40 a day
Well I'm not even racking in that pay
But hey wouldn't it be cheaper to give a raise, than pay a billion kids a day
Hmm didn't think that through, there's more children, the teachers you're giving more than you need to
But we have written rights that you're pushing aside
And that's why teachers are standing at the picket line
Chorus
Bridge
Well my education is at stake cuz the government took my right away the right to learn
But I cant learn with provincials are in a week and the teachers can't speak
I don't know everything but I know there's more than what's on the news
It's not anyone but us that are getting abused and used, confused
But there's nothing I can do
I don't want to live in a century that thinks we can learn off technology
It hurts my eyes I think I'm going blind
Most times I need a teacher right my my side
Sometimes I put up my hand and I might as well put it back down
Cuz it's a 20-minute wait and what I'm trying to say is stop kicking them out we need them around.
A computer don't know my name
A computer wont help me
A computer wont fix a falling grade
A computer don't care
A computer don't care
We need them there
Our government might as well be a flipping computer.
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