Speak up girls, your opinions matter
Name: Helen Kuk
Occupation: Magee Secondary School English teacher
Union: BCTF
Magee Secondary school English teacher Helen Kuk talks animatedly about admiring her Grade 6/7 teacher, Ms. McIntyre, who said: “Assert yourself, girls. Your opinions matter, so speak up.” Helen took these words to heart while pursuing a Life Sciences degree from Queens University and a Masters in Fine Arts at UBC. Born in Hong Kong, she arrived in Ontario as a two year old with parents who immigrated so their children could have good educational opportunities. In Canada, they started from scratch, and saw their lifestyle decline, but the value of education remained clear.
Although Scarborough is a diverse community, growing up there she felt “not actually Canadian,” and that she didn’t fit in. Helen recalls “wanting to be Canadian and being really conflicted as a kid.” In her extended family, everyone functioned in Cantonese. She was encouraged to “focus on her family” and retain Chinese values. Her parents wanted her to become a doctor, but she “successfully planted the idea of teaching” in their minds.
The role of education in Chinese culture established Helen‘s appreciation for “the comfortable life and career choices” an education provides. She realized it also offers “rich life experiences” that she explores in the grade 8/9 Leaders Program at Magee. Its wide focus includes studying social justice, going hiking and visiting the opera.
Helen’s studiousness and active imagination created a childhood “life lived in books.” Now, her relationship with students has evolved from teaching English because she loves literature, to loving “working with the kids … who make me see things in a new way.” Especially important is seeing them live up to their potential and embrace ideas. She lets students know that school is “not always fun. You have to work hard.”
Helen is currently a Staff Representative at Magee. Her first union experiences in Toronto taught her the union’s value in mediating staff relations and “in making things better.” For three of her ten years in Vancouver, she has been involved in job action. She appreciates the BCTF’s role in fighting for basic needs. Her involvement has taught her much about the system, including union history.
She advises newer teachers to learn about what the union promotes. Initially, she admits, “seniority was a problem for me.” Now she says “You cannot make up for experience.”
Helen expresses concern that the present government promotes a corporate model that seems to denigrate everything teachers try to do. At first, she says, she took it personally. Now, she realizes, “To be a teacher, you have to be a union activist.”