No More Pencils, No More Books… No More Teachers Because They’re On Strike

The teacher’s strike in Chicago might be reaching a tipping point as the mayor and other officials seek to end the walk out by whatever means necessary. The strike, propelled forward by education reforms is fighting against changes the teacher’s union feels would be unfair to those responsible for our nation’s youth. Part of the reforms challenged are the performance based reviews based on state tests scores, frozen salaries, hires as well as healthcare benefits. The stuck point seems based on these evaluations. In theory, merit based salaries doesn’t seem like a far-off notion, why shouldn’t teachers be expected to show growth in a classroom? In practice though, I have a hard time agreeing to such concepts. There are a few reasons for digging in my heels, probably similar ones to why the teachers are doing the same.

One of the greatest problems I have with the American education system is that we teach to a test instead of educating our students. Of course there will always need to be some objective test to measure learning, knowledge and all of that, but as the tests become more frequent, more demanding and hold greater weight, the curriculum withers and dies for the sake of an exam. And what do they show? Think of how much weight we place on the SATs, they practically determine what college we will get into and yet what it is attempting to discover is our prognosis of success in college. Does it test us on an overall accumulation of knowledge gained in our 12 grades? No. Does it determine concepts of abstract and concrete thinking, problem solving, critical skills? No. What it does is test our knowledge of vocabulary that most only study for the test and repress it once they’re done, math and a recently added essay.

I digress into a rant about the SATs. Back to school. We think so highly of these test scores that we don’t seem to see that the children can no longer understand the subjects they’re taking because the class is all about a state test. Then, when they fail to do well on the test, we blame the teachers for not being able to adequately teach to a test, possibly because they spent too much time…teaching. Yet, just as we do on so many issues, we decide that admitting there might be a problem with the system isn’t a valid option and we instead have to put blame on the middle man. Isn’t it possible that learning encompasses so much more than a state exam? And the credit or blame cannot be placed entirely on the teachers? This is a sales technique, to get commission, but would be accept it in other jobs? As mental health professionals should our salary be reduced for every relapse our patients experience? Or person who doesn’t respond to treatment? Our children are not means for profit. They need to be taught, explained to, encouraged to learn and grow. There will be attacks on the strike, the teachers will be called uncaring, told they are taking it out on the children, it will be linked back to the election and in the end the real issue won’t be explored. Teachers will be demonized for attempting to be able to do their job in a way that will benefit the students and won’t hurt themselves. The government has reacted with outrage that they would dare. And they should if they feel that others are being hurt in the process, but they should remember that the next time they try to freeze government funds, effectively shutting down our government because they can’t agree on spending and budgets. It is alright for them to walk away and leave our troops without pay, our people without services because of what they consider unreasonable.

Teachers, like social workers or nurses have difficulties striking. Part of the reason is because they understand who they are hurting in the short term by doing so, and it is the same people who they have promised to help. Leaving our students and patients is not something these professions take lightly, and it will be the first twist of the knife officials use to prompt an end to the strike. I don’t know what will come of this strike, but I would hate for guilt to render discussion and compromise irrelevant.