I Support the Chicago Teachers Union

Being from Chicago and a former Chicago Public Schools student, I was heartbroken to hear that the School Board and the Teacher's Union were not able to come to an agreement and a strike began on September 10, 2012.

First, because misinformation has been rampant, let's get some facts going:

1. The two groups are disagreeing on benefits and evaluation procedure, NOT salary. The union is not demanding more money
2. The union wants to maintain, not increase, its current benefits package.
3. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel wants to make students' test scores 40% of teachers evaluations over the next several years and the union, understandably, is not having it.

With that being said, first, we must remember that teachers are workers. Teaching is a job; it has does not come along with any moral obligations, as much as we'd like to think it does. They don't have to think about the children. Next, the teachers are thinking about the children. That's why this strike is at the beginning of the years and not during the week of standardized testing. Also, the children are the only thing that's kept them from striking for 25 years. There will always be students. At some point, the union had to put its foot down.

Mayor Emmanuel said (video provided below), "Because we are so close this strike is unnecessary." The strike is necessary because it will push the school board and the Mayor to go from "so close" to "done." Being the child of a former CPS teacher, this strike has been a long time coming. At some point the union was going to stop playing nice.

Mayor Emmanuel's idea about increasing student test scores to 40% of teacher evaluations really gets my blood boiling because I already think standardized testing is bad for students, but that's another post for another day.

When you think about it, it's actually a ludicrous suggestion. There are so many factors that affect test scores. Many of these factors are not within any teacher's control. Mayor Emmanuel is basically saying that testing is all that matters and if students don't test well than they obviously weren't taught well. If test scores can't accurately measure a student's intelligence, which they can't, then how can they measure a teacher's effectiveness.

What the Mayor is not considering is that resources are not equally available to all students and all teachers. Teachers do not control students' home life and can not force parents to help their kids with homework and test prep or to even participate in their children's education at all. Not to mention, teachers are also not able to control the intelligence of their students. Students that attend magnet high schools like my mother and first lady's Alma mater, Whitney Young, are clearly going to out perform students from a regular neighborhood high school. The list goes on: gangs, violence, homelessness... you see home much a test means to you when you are not sure where your next meal will come.

Chicago Teachers Union President, Karen Lewis, discusses some of these factors in the Washington Post article provided here.

Teaching is one of those professions that gets no respect. People assume it's a last resort for the desperate and untalented. But if more people tried it, I think mass opinion about it would change substantially. Teaching is difficult enough task without factoring in lack of resources, parental support, and other various dangers. I support the teachers union and I pray they can come to a swift agreement with the school board.

 

 

"Those who can't do, teach." I always thought that was insulting to teachers. It's more accurate to say, "those who have already done, teach."