Democracy and Possibility
Two quotes to start the week:
The first, a recent one, from Deborah Meier:
In all these years we have never seriously confronted society with the question of “why?” Do we really want schools to undo our class divisions? Do we want them to produce adults who are members of a shared and commonly cherished adult world—with inequities that we could all imagine living with? With adults who more or less equally appreciate and utilize democracy for their own self-interests, have more or less equal access to the media, to political influence, with fair and equal protection of the law?
I’d like, Diane, given the obvious reality of the above (it’s said harshly, but isn’t it the simple truth?), to suggest we shift the discussion. Maybe it’s time to think together about what schooling could be if we truly saw it as the bedrock of democracy—if we imagined we cared enough for the future of democracy to put everything we have into using schools toward such an end. We need something to fight FOR, not just against. The billionaires’ reforms take us backward, so what would forward look like?
The second, a much older one, from the philosopher Hannah Arendt:
Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it and by the same token save it from that ruin which except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and the young, would be inevitable. And education, too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world and leave them to their own devices, nor to strike from their hands their chance of undertaking something new, something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world.
~Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought (New York: Penguin, 1968), 196.
Democracy and possibility? That sounds like something worth fighting for to me. Let’s get to this first period, tomorrow morning.
This is What #EDUSolidarity Looks Like – The Full List
Watching EDUSolidarity take place on Tuesday was one of the most empowering and inspirational days of my life. It was amazing to see so many educators around the country (and even two internationally) stand up together to support our brothers and sisters whose unions are under attack. What started as an idea in the shower as a response to an old question, quickly ballooned to involve over 100 different bloggers sharing their thoughts and experiences. There is an incredibly wide variety of viewpoints here, and I would encourage people to read as many as they can. Moreover, I would encourage people to take the time to leave comments on those you read. I will be doing so in the coming days, as well as posting more in response to things I read.
Guest Post: Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions
This post is just one of many being published a day late as part of the #EDUSolidarity project, of which I am an organizer. After you have read this, please take some time to read the wide variety of posts that were added yesterday at EDUSolidarity.us.
Guest blogger John McCrann has worked with me for the past three years after starting his career in North Carolina, and is currently the Department Chair of our Integrated Math & Science Department. He is also extremely tall.
I am currently in my 6th year in public education and am in the relatively uncommon position of having spent the same amount of time in one of the most labor un-friendly states in the country as well as in a state with a strong and active union. I spent the first three years of my career in two different schools in central North Carolina, a state with a constitutional ban against collective bargaining in the public sector. From North Carolina, I moved to New York where I am a proud member of the United Federation of Teachers and enjoy the benefits and security that come from that membership.
While I tend to be viscerally opposed to political movements that would discredit the organizations that brought us the weekend and child labor laws, the recent outburst against public sector unions by some conservative political and economic figures made question my stance and challenged me to reflect on my experience in the union and non-union environments in which I have worked. I know many great educators in North Carolina, perhaps Scott Walker and his allies are right that unions stand in the way of achievement for students?
Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions
This post is just one of many being published today as part of the #EDUSolidarity project, of which I am an organizer. After you have read this, please take some time to read the wide variety of posts that will be added during the day at EDUSolidarity.us
Right around the time I was elected as my school’s UFT Chapter Leader, my school hired a new principal. He had taught history for twelve years, and is married to an English teacher. He had spent the preceding year at my school as a principal intern, during which I came to know and respect him as a person and educator. When we sat down for our first formal meeting as principal and chapter leader-elects, the first thing he said was, “Steve, you’re a great teacher. So why would you want to be Chapter Leader?”
I have heard this question too many times. It assumes the stereotype of the teachers union as home to the despondent, bitter, lazy, kid-haters who teach to get summers off. And I must admit, I was guilty of holding this prejudice to some degree when I became Chapter Leader. While I, of course, wanted to take on the role to ensure the fair treatment of teachers at my school, a large part of my motivation was to slowly work to gain a voice within the UFT, so that a good teacher like me could displace an old and bitter one, in the hope that others would follow. However, what I have discovered in my interactions with people within the UFT and at the various meetings I attend is exactly what is true of teachers I have met in my career: the overwhelming majority of people who step foot into a classroom want nothing more than to do right by their kids.
Now, there is certainly disagreement on how to do this. I know people who are great, award-winning teachers who have radically different pedagogical styles than I do. They might even do some things that I would counsel the teachers I mentor against doing. But different teaching styles are necessary, as they reach different students. I would never want every teacher in the world to be exactly like me.
The same is true when it comes to educational policy. I only agree with the educational policies of the UFT slightly more often than I agree with the policies of the NYC DOE. I wouldn’t trust either to run schools without the checks and balances the other provides. There are times when change is a good thing, and sometimes that needs to be enforced from on high. There are also times when these “new ideas” are ridiculous and need to be stopped. There is a need for meaningful accountability for teachers. There are also times when the system acts out of expediency rather than in the best interest of students, and the union needs to be there to speak up for our students.
The area that the union is almost always right about though, is insisting that teachers be treated as professionals. This means ensuring that we are compensated in such a way that allows one to teach, support a family, and retire. This means having meaningful, objective criteria for evaluation and layoffs that is not based on poorly constructed tests. And due to the nature of the job, this means we need tenure protection from arbitrary dismissal.
I work with a great teacher who nearly lost his job last year because students stole a copy of a grade-wide exam off his desk. I know someone in Virginia, where I started my career, who was falsely accused of sexual harassment by a student after she did poorly on an exam. I have seen teachers assigned classes for which they are neither certified nor trained to teach. I had parents calling for my dismissal my first year because I asked their children to write persuasive essays representing the opposite point of view on an issue they cared about. Great teachers are so hard to produce and find that we need a system that ensures we never arbitrarily lose them.
More than anything, however, I need the protection of my union and my tenured due process rights to consistently improve and innovate as a teacher. I am a very good teacher right now by any measurable objective standard, including that of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards who certified me two years ago, as well as by the subjective account of anyone who has ever observed me. On my best days, I am great and every year, there are more and more of these days.
But here’s why I need tenure to get better: I need to be able to try new things to better improve my students’ learning. If I did the same thing this year that I did last year, my students’ growth would stagnate. This means taking risks.
New things do not always go well; most of the new things I try work, but some don’t. By being able to try new things, over time, I am constantly improving in my ability to serve my students, bringing me ever closer to the sustained greatness to which I aim.
If I had to worry about arbitrary dismissal as an “at-will” employee, I would not have tried many of the great things I do. I would continue doing what I have always done because it is safe. I have written before that good teaching takes courage. This is certainly the case, but seeking to improve as a teacher should never mean risking one’s job, which is exactly what I would be doing if I were still an at-will employee as I was in the right-to-work state of Virginia.
Guest Post: Why I Stand Up: From a “Right to Work” State
This post is just one of many being published today as part of the #EDUSolidarity project, of which I am an organizer. After you have read this, please take some time to read the wide variety of posts that will be added during the day at EDUSolidarity.us
Guest blogger Penelope Millar is a high school history teacher in Virginia who is trying to fight burn out and find hope for education.
Why do I support unions?
First and foremost, because I am a history teacher.
It’s pretty hard to study the history of the US (really, the world) and not discover the ways that the union movement of the early 20th century is responsible for so much good. If you love Fridays because it’s the beginning of your weekend, if you get paid overtime past 40 hours a week, if you get your half hour lunch and 15 minute breaks, and if you have ever needed workers comp when injured on the job, then thank a union. Without the progressive movement and the actions of unions in the first half of this century, we wouldn’t have any of those things. We wouldn’t have a lot of health and safety regulations. We would have some pretty terrible working conditions.
#EDUSolidarity – Why I’m Standing Up
Saturday, I found myself explaining for the umpteenth time why I, as a good teacher, would support teachers’ unions, let alone be a chapter leader. I was jotting down some notes for a blog entry, but then thought this might be worth getting bigger.
I got in touch with Ken Bernstein and Jose Vilson, both of whom I met at the recent EWA Seminar I attended, and Jonathan Halabi, who I know through my local UFT, to discuss the idea, and we decided to move forward with it. We reached out to educators we knew and respected as excellent teachers, and the idea of #EDUSolidarity was born. Our formal letter of invitation follows.
I hope you’ll join us in writing on March 22. If you don’t have a blog of your own, I am happy to publish guest posts on mine.
Fellow Educators,
As we all know, teachers and our unions, along with those of other public sector employees, face unprecedented attacks in the national media and from local and state governments. It is easy for politicians and the media to demonize the “unions” and their public faces; it is far more difficult to demonize the millions of excellent teachers who are proud union members. Those of us who are excellent teachers and who stand in solidarity with our unions are probably no stranger to the question “Well, why are you involved with the union if you’re a good teacher?” It’s time for us to stand up and answer that question loudly and clearly.
On Tuesday, March 22, teachers in NYC will wear red in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and elsewhere. We also stand with teachers in places like Idaho, California, and Texas who are facing massive layoffs. We would like to take this stand on the web as well. We encourage you to publish a piece on March 22 entitled “Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions.” In this piece, please explain your own reasons for being a proud union member and/or supporter. Including personal stories can make this a very powerful piece. It would be great to also explain how being a union member supports and enables you to be the kind of teacher that you are. We want these posts to focus not only on our rights, but also on what it takes to be a great teacher for students, and how unions support that.
After you have published your post, please share it through the form that will go live on March 22 at http://www.edusolidarity.us. Posts should also be shared on Twitter using the tag #edusolidarity.
In Solidarity,
Ken Bernstein – Social Studies, MD – teacherken
Anthony Cody – Science Instructional Coach, CA – Living in Dialogue
Ed Darrell – Social Studies, TX – MillardFillmore’s Bathtub
Nancy Flanagan – Educational Consultant, MI – Teacher in a Strange Land
Jonathan Halabi – Math, NY – JD2718
Jamie Josephson – Social Studies, DC – Dontworryteach
Stephen Lazar – Social Studies/English, NY – Outside the Cave
Deborah Meier – Professor of Education, NY – Deborah Meier’s Blog
Doug Noon – Elementary, AK – Borderland
Kate Nowak - Math, NY – f(t)
Sabrina Stevens Shupe – Educational Activist, CO – Failing Schools
Jose Vilson – Math, NY – The Jose Vilson
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