by The heartbreaking tales of teachers earning $320/week and buying classroom supplies or feeding students should finally lay to rest the lie that teacher unions are all-powerful and have a stranglehold on American democracy. Nothing could be further from the truth, as evidenced by the pay and funding crisis rolling across red state America.
Arizona teacher: Daughter makes more as a nanny — CNN Video
The only way Americans will wake up to the American crisis in funding and teacher pay is for every teacher in America to go on strike. Yes, I mean it. Shut the sucker down!
In 2012, I wroteabout how the Education Minister in an Australian state said something that offended teachers and how the entire system went on strike and took to the streets until he apologized.
25,000 teachers stayed home, 10,000 marched on Parliament and they closed 150 public schools. Parents were politely alerted in advance to make other plans for the day. Many principals supported the strike and even marched with their colleagues.
Teachers in Australia are not human piñata or professional victims. They don’t fundraise for crayons. They stand up for themselves, their students and their communities. Aussie educators enjoy medical insurance, secure pensions and enjoy long-service leave.
(Read Throw a Few Million American Teachers on the Barbie)
Don’t you dare tell me that it is illegal for teachers to strike. One thing I learned working in civilized countries, like Australia, is that there is no such thing as an illegal strike. It is a basic human right to withhold one’s labor, otherwise we are slaves.
It is time to fully wake up!
At the risk of being accused of blaming the victim, teachers have brought some of this upon themselves. Every time a teacher dismissed the role of organized labor, begged for a freebie, just followed orders, was a cheerleader on standardized testing day, failed to question the Common Core/Race-to-the-Top/No Child Left Behind, held a fundraiser for copy paper, enforce a zero-tolerance policy, or dress unprofessionally, they contributed to the neglect that America is finally becoming aware of. When teachers send their own kids to a charter school or believe that they are just like public schools, only better, they contribute to $320/week salaries. When teachers allow their voices to fall silent on matters of curriculum, assessment, calendar, or working conditions, they create the conditions for classrooms that insult the humanity of their students.
Fight, damn it! You are all that stands between kids and the madness! If you won’t fight for your own dignity and paycheck, how can we trust you to create the most productive context for learning? Go to a damned school board meeting and speak up! It is literally, the least you can do.
Normalizing deprivation
Over the past several years, I have written several articles about how common practices contribute to normalizing educational deprivation and impoverishment. We live in the richest nation in the history of the earth. Our students deserve better. So do their teachers.
Re-read and share…
- NO! I Will Not Buy Your Damned School Supplies!
- Ashamed (about the vulgarity of Donor’s Choose)
- Note to Educators: Pay Now or Pay Later! (why you should pay for software)
- Throw a Few Million American Teachers on the Barbie
- Caution: Chromebooks
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.
