Cancelling classes due to an eclipse is just teachers’ unions insisting their members resist the notion that they should ever need to work on any day that is in any way special
For as long as newspapers have published letters to the editor, for as long as bars have had stools and barber shops have had swiveling chairs, human beings have complained to each other about the world going to hell in a hand cart. I try to resist the urge to catastrophize modern troubles. Sure, 2024 is in many ways quite a dumb time to be alive — and a scary time for a lot of people. But goodness knows times have been dumber and scarier and not that long ago.
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When all around me are lamenting the immediate, catastrophic decline of Western civilization, I try to keep things in some perspective. Paul Fairie, a researcher at the University of Calgary, has compiled some wonderfully entertaining threads on X (formerly Twitter) of people in newspapers down the centuries complaining about the same supposedly novel social developments: Young people won’t work hard; nobody knows how to parent anymore; that sort of thing. The world, I believe, is mostly the way the world always was.
But then a story comes along that just makes me want to gnaw my bartender’s, barber’s and editor’s ears off all at once. “These Ontario schools have cancelled classes for the total solar eclipse,” was the headline (from the Toronto Star) that sent me over the edge this time.
The Toronto, Dufferin-Peel, Durham, Halton and Peterborough Catholic boards will not be receiving students on Eclipse Day. Nor will the secular Halton or Durham boards.
“A number of Ontario schools will see their regular class schedules changed over safety concerns from a rare total solar eclipse,” the Star reported. “School boards across the region have been moving their upcoming professional activity days to Apr. 8 to coincide with the event. Others are changing dismissal times and school bus pickup schedules.”
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There has also been an ongoing controversy over whether teachers should be allowed to spend their upcoming “professional activity days” at home — which we all know means “yet another day off” — on account of the moon being in the way of the sun.
I’m sorry, but this is intolerable. The people who are tolerating it need to stop, right now. This is caveman nonsense. The Moon God is fighting the Sun God! Duck and cover!
I remember eclipse days at school. That’s where and when I learned that a pinhole camera made out of a piece of paper was absolutely useless. But in making that useless thing, I and my classmates did at least avoid looking directly into the sun. Which was kind of the point, right?
Mine was a fancy private school, but at the end of the day one of any school’s most important functions is freeing its children’s parents to do productive things during the day. Or else there wouldn’t be any tax base to support these schools.
If you really think it’s desperately important that children not look at an eclipse, you should insist they be in school — perhaps watching a documentary in a darkened classroom about eclipses. God knows what they might do otherwise, the little creeps. An eclipse, which is to say outer space, is pretty bloody interesting. If you can’t make outer space interesting to children, it’s probably time to find another line of work.
Everyone knows what this is. This is teachers’ unions insisting their members resist the notion that they should ever need to work on any day that is in any way special. Celestial objects being in the wrong configuration is just the most convenient justification.
It’s enough, already. Go to work. Teach. It’s lucrative. The pension is something most of us can only dream of while crying ourselves to sleep at night. We appreciate you! Maybe appreciate us back, once in a while.
National Post
cselley@postmedia.com
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17.03.2024
Cancelling classes due to an eclipse is just teachers’ unions insisting their members resist the notion that they should ever need to work on any day that is in any way special
For as long as newspapers have published letters to the editor, for as long as bars have had stools and barber shops have had swiveling chairs, human beings have complained to each other about the world going to hell in a hand cart. I try to resist the urge to catastrophize modern troubles. Sure, 2024 is in many ways quite a dumb time to be alive — and a scary time for a lot of people. But goodness knows times have been dumber and scarier and not that long ago.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
When all around me are lamenting the immediate, catastrophic decline of Western civilization, I try to keep things in some perspective. Paul Fairie, a researcher at the University of Calgary, has compiled some wonderfully entertaining threads on X (formerly Twitter) of people in newspapers down the centuries complaining about the same supposedly novel social developments: Young people won’t work hard; nobody knows how to parent anymore; that sort of thing. The world, I believe, is mostly the way the world........
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