Earlier this week, a majority of the member-delegates with the Chicago Teachers' Union (CTU) agreed to end a seven-school-day strike. The actual contract still awaits approval, but it's widely expected.
Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hardline approach, which included a threat of legal action against the CTU, the teachers appear to have won at least a few concessions from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Among them were an agreement to give laid-off teachers hire-back priorities, hiring more teachers, especially for creative arts, and somewhat relaxing criteria for rating teachers based on standardized student testing. (But that last item is still very much in play, much to the dismay of most teachers as well as policy experts).
It was heartening to witness widespread support for the striking public school teachers from parents and students. But let's face it, they're still widely under-appreciated. And they're being buffeted by forces which are to a great extent beyond their control.
Like public employees across the country, school teachers have been singled out as national pinatas: many folks, especially those from the right flank of society have been taking merciless whacks at them. It's as if they're somehow considered undeserving of a decent living wage, enabling them to raise families.
Here in Chicago, the jobs and financial security of many public school teachers are being jeopardized by the headlong rush to establish charter schools (which incidentally divert funding from the public schools). Don't get me wrong: I understand that the staff at some charter schools are doing yeoman work, and have earned the respect of students and parents alike. In certain cases, public school curriculum planners would do well to pay attention to, and learn from their teaching methods.
But teachers and other charter school staff generally earn far less than their public school counterparts. Wherever they're employed, it's safe to assume that they're pursuing their passion; it's a labor of love.
But passion doesn't necessarily pay all the bills. Throughout much of the industrialized world, teachers are held in much higher esteem than they are within our own shores and are compensated accordingly.
Think Finland.
Over and over different media cite the fact that Chicago's charter schools do not produce more college-bound high schoolers than the CPS. Various test scores seem to show similar results--NEITHER approach in Chicago, whether charter or public, turns out fairly well-educated young people, ready for the rigors of academe, rather than merely surviving the dangerous rigors of frat houses' hazing and alcohol poisoning rituals.
ReplyDeleteBut the times, as Shakespeare said, are disjoint. Parents and all segments of society must share responsibility, rescue our kids and each other--else we risk being just another former empire tossed onto the dustbin of history.