Unions Are Striking Back, at Last

[proud2BlibKansan]

The so-called education reform movement decided long ago that change could come only through confrontation. Teachers figured that out when the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, called Hurricane Katrina “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans"; seven years later the teachers union is washed away and the public schools are mostly charter-ized. They figured that out when the White House celebrated the firing of the entire teaching staff in Central Falls, R.I., because of students’ low test scores. And it became clearer to them when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York published teachers' names alongside standardized test results of their students.

Now, finally, a unionized group of teachers has decided to meet this confrontation head-on.

Teachers have come to realize that the 'reform movement' is about confronting them, not working with them.
If evaluating teachers based on standardized test scores is a bad idea for teaching and learning, then the Chicago Teachers Union strike is good for teachers and students. If small class sizes are good for teaching and learning, then the strike is good for teachers and students. For that matter, if air-conditioning is good for teaching and learning, then the strike is good for teachers and students.

Tying teacher pay, tenure and even employment status to standardized test scores corrupts the teacher-student relationship and inspires no one. This carrot-and-stick routine won’t retain great teachers, and may turn our best teachers into test prep tutors. Any experienced classroom teacher will tell you that punishments and rewards at best encourage obedience, but will not promote creativity, intelligence or initiative.

more . . . http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/09/11/must-teachers-and-school-officials-be-foes/unions-are-striking-back-at-last

[DonRedwood]

1. I wish they'd called for a national strike. The whole country needs the same wake up call.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I'd be in.

But I don't know about teachers elsewhere. It's pretty hard to motivate them to be activists.

[sabrina 1]

4. That may happen yet. Their scheme to take over Public Education funds is now out in the

open and all the lies and distortions they had to use to do so plus the bullying and attacks on teachers, has mobilized people across the country.

In nearly every major city last week there were solidarity marches for the Chicago teachers, with huge support from ordinary people, exceeding their own expectations.

The went too far, the greed made them act like dictators and they are finding out that when it comes down to it, people love their fire fighters and teachers and are not all that fond of the Wall Street operatives who are trying to take over every fund set aside for the public.

Wait til they try to privatize Social Security! They think, as Paul Ryan said in 2005 that 'SS is no longer the third rail of Politics' when he advised Bush to do his 50 state trip to seal the deal to privatize SS. He could not have been more wrong, I don't think Bush made it past two or three states before he was sent back home.

In a way it's good when they go too far because that is what mobilizes people more than anything.

[cr8tvlde]

2. K & R