That is why resistance to the agenda of the “reformers” is growing. Many teachers have been discouraged by how readily their unions have conceded to this assault of testing, privatization, and austerity. But some are responding with a real fight. In Chicago, a slate of union dissidents committed to complete rejection of Democratic mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “reforms” has successfully taken over the teachers’ union. Teachers there have gone on strike and are building real coalitions with parents and others in the community to demand the—no quotation mark—reforms schools actually need: more equitable funding, more services, smaller class sizes. And of course, working conditions that will attract great teachers and entice them to stay. Teachers elsewhere—New York City for example—have been emboldened, and are mounting similar challenges to entrenched leadership. In Seattle, teachers and students have been boycotting the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test. Parents all of the nation have been fighting too: against undemocratic school boards, high-stakes testing, school closings, and the steady enclosure of private interests upon public school buildings. These efforts got a vital injection of radical spirit from Occupy, but ably have gone on without it.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 00:53:55 +0000
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