Thompson: Chicago Teachers Take A Stand For All Students

Reuters’ Stephanie Simon and James B. Kelleher, in “Analysis: Striking Chicago Teachers Take on National Education Reform,” quoted a union organizer who expressed the deep feelings of the neighborhood school teachers who I know, “this is a fight for the soul of public education.”  Simon and Kelleher report that many teachers “see the new policies (promoted by Chicago and the Obama administration) as a brazen attempt to shift public resources into private hands, to break the power of teachers unions, and to reduce the teaching profession to test preparation.”  They describe the meager gains produced by test-driven school "reform,” thus raising the question of why a Democrat would inflict so much pain on loyal constituencies, in support of risky policies with so little potential of helping schools.  Simon and Kelleher cite Mark Naison, a professor of African-American history at Fordham, who argues “This is ground zero of resistance to corporate education reform.”  I would only add that the real fight is by teachers in support of all of our students. The question is whether we have a timely victory or are condemned to a long series of tactical withdrawals before the historical dead end known as “reform” is rejected.-JT(@drjohnthompson)Image via.  

Comments

[Sharon]

Hi John, Amy Goodman's interview of Chris Hedges on Democracy Now this morning is very much worth watching.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chicago_teachers_need_support_from_democrats_20120911/?ln …

[Deirdre]

I wonder what we can learn by looking at the ways in which the Chicago protests are connected to those happening in other parts of the world, such as the vote to strike in the UK, the looming strike in Egypt, and the violent clash between striking and non-striking teachers in Kenya.

More at www.internationalednews.com and on Twitter @intl_ed_news

[Sarah]

I think all we can really learn is that striking is rarely, if ever, a permanent solution. My fear at this point is that it’s all a bit futile, as strikes increasingly seem to be these days.

[Sarah]

Oh, and in regards to students... I’m not honestly sure, given the way things have been in Chicago for a long time now, if a strike more harms or will ultimately help their education. I guess time will tell.