Dear Presidents of the NEA and the AFT,
I have just started my 16th year of teaching and yet I wish with all of my might that this were my last year. I desperately wish that the nation's economy were in much better condition so I could change my career. I feel that the politics surrounding education have been so toxic that there is no turning back.
Here is Michigan, tenure has been thrown by the wayside, all collective bargaining has been legislated away, we are on the verge of becoming a "right-to-work" state with a privatized teaching core. None of these actions relate in any way to actual research on best teaching practices or incorporating much needed social services in our poorest schools. Nope, this is all about destroying unions and decreasing salaries and about turning schools over to private corporations so they have captive markets and can reap all that taxpayer money.
But, down deep, you already know that. So, what are we to do? Are we to continue to try and compromise with an opponent whose demagoguery is driven by some odd combination of the Chicago School of Economics philosophy (the one that killed Allende, brought Pinochet to power, and drove Chile to its knees) and religious fanaticism that believes that Jesus today would spit on the poor? People who cheer at the thought of an uninsured person's death? People who listen to a radio announcer who called a 13 year Chelsea Clinton a dog? People who knowingly lied about weapons of mass destruction? Can one actually reason with and compromise with people like these? I don't think so. But, we keep trying - like good teachers who try to reach that angry student who is about to give up. Sadly, it isn't working.
I am not the only teacher who feels like this. There are many and we are looking to you for your leadership in making this happen. You see, we trench-working teachers are busy with lesson plans and marking papers. You and the leadership of the two unions have time for this task, so I beseech you to do the following:
CALL A STRIKE! CALL A STRIKE! CALL A STRIKE!
Shut the schools down for a few days. Flex our muscles. Show them that we have come to the fight prepared to win or at least not go down with a whimper. Call it and we will follow - I promise.
I'll be damned if I lose my job in three years (that is the time frame) without fighting back.
CALL A STRIKE!
2 comments:
"3 years"? That a random number or based on something? How is the state of education in Canada?
Sadly, not a random number. If a teacher is deemed ineffective for three years in a row, that teacher must be fired and must lost his/her license. How will effectiveness be determined? ACT and the rest of the MME. All part of the new teacher evaluation law.
Education is calmer in Canada and I am starting the process of getting my certification here. I just got the info today and have to read through the packet.
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