Gone are the days of the school marm, who couldn’t get married and remain a teacher. No, teachers of today are faced with issues that would curl the school marm’s toes. We are, however, backed by two unions: The National Education Association(NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers(AFT).
The American Federation of Teachers
(Full disclosure, I am on the executive board of an AFT local, as the PAC Chairperson)
The mission of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, is to improve the lives of our members and their families, to give voice to their legitimate professional, economic and social aspirations, to strengthen the institutions in which we work, to improve the quality of the services we provide, to bring together all members to assist and support one another and to promote democracy, human rights and freedom in our union, in our nation and throughout the world.
The AFT was founded in 1916 and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. It has 1.6 million members, not all of whom are teachers.
It is the smaller of the two teachers unions in the country, but its history has seen its share of hard won battles and controversy.
Just a few of its main battles have included:
Yellow-dog contracts (a contact in which the teacher promises to not join a union)
Tenure (thanks to AFT efforts, 17 states had enacted some type of tenure law by the end of the Depression)
Academic freedom
Segregation (in 1948, the AFT ceased the existence of segregated locals and by 1957, it expelled all locals that refused to desegregate)
Any conversation about the American Federation of Teachers must include a look at the life of Al Shankar. Shankar was the longest reigning president of the AFT, from 1974-1997.
Shankar was a born and raised New Yorker of immigrant parents who started his union activity in 1959. He had watched his mother work long hours in a factory, a fact that ultimately influenced his decision to become a union organizer.
As an organizer, Shankar is best known for his role in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville conflict of 1968, during which Shankar called for a strike over the transfer of 18 teachers; the strike lasted two months. As I have read through the the history of this conflict, I have to admit that I can’t tell you if I agree with his decision.
Towards the end of his tenure (and his life), Shankar sought to create a bond between the AFT and the NEA. He died in 1997 without having bridged the two unions.
National Education Association
Mission Statement
To fulfill the promise of a democratic society, the National Education Association shall promote the cause of quality public education and advance the profession of education; expand the rights and further the interest of educational employees; and advocate human, civil, and economic rights for all.
Double the size of the AFT at 2.8 million members, it is the best known and the most reviled by many non-educators. Its formation pre-dates the AFT by 59 years, starting in 1857 with 100 teachers and called itself the National Teachers Association. By 1870, it had changed its name to the NEA and merged with 3 smaller education groups.
A look at the NEA’s timeline reveals an impressive history of a focus on progressive issues, in particular in the area of women’s rights in the early 1900’s. The NEA had a woman president, Ella Flagg Young, in 1912, eight years before women had the right to vote. In 1914, the NEA passed a resolution which supported the very modern and yet unrealized notion of equal pay for equal work.
In 1966, the NEA and the American Teachers Association (an association of African-American teachers) merged, after some 40 years of dialogue.
So What?
What does all this mean? Don’t teachers’ unions stand in the way of real change and progress in “failing” school districts? I work in one of those school districts and I’d have to say – NO. Our local union has done much to attempt to effect positive change in our schools and have met with administrative resistance. That, however, is a rant for another diary.
Why are politicians always going on about how bad the public school systems are? If you ask me, they’d like to complete the process started with the firing of the air traffic controllers, to break these two powerful unions with 4.4 million middle class voters, who mostly vote on the Democratic side of the ballot. But, we also don’t want to face what is really ailing “failing” schools: poverty. Sure, my school doesn’t have the type of resources I’d like to have to really present 21st century lessons. But the cycle of poverty in a child’s life and family history is devastating. Our school resources are too few to really offer my students the assistance they need to focus on academics (my Bosnian students have experienced war, I have taught students who have witnessed parents murdered, etc.). My lessons on Walt Whitman don’t necessarily resonate the way I’d like.
We live in a society that mocks Presidential candidates for speaking several different languages and overall pays our teachers fairly poorly – go ahead, look up your state’s average, I’m pretty sure that I could work in retail management for a higher pay in some of those states.
We can try charter schools, but research has shown that these “free” and non-unionized schools are generally fairing no better than their traditional public school counterparts. According to a NYT August 26 editorial (sorry, no link, registration req.)
A federal study showing that fourth graders in charter schools score worse in reading and math than their public school counterparts should cause some soul-searching in Congress. Too many lawmakers seem to believe that the only thing wrong with American education is the public school system, and that converting lagging schools to charter schools would cause them to magically improve.
Even better, charter schools run by traditional school boards (and therefore, more likely to be unionized), tend to perform better than independent charter schools.
On average, charter schools that were affiliated with public school districts performed just as well as traditional public schools. That may be a disappointment to advocates who expected them to show clear superiority. But the real stunner was the performance of free-standing charter schools, which have no affiliation with public school systems and are often school districts unto themselves. It was this grouping that showed the worst performance.
Well, I could go on and on. What teacher doesn’t love a captive audience? If you haven’t read the other parts in this Labor series, please so.
Working Together: Part 1 – The Circle of Law by Kahli
Working Together: Solidarity Through The Arts by Man Eegree
Working Together Part III: Joe Hill, A Myth of a Man by shirlstar
I’ve got to grade some papers, so remember, if you can read this, thank a teacher.
I posted this Wednesday evening because I’ll be in school Thursday during the day and I won’t be able to post it Thursday night.
Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. The test on this will be, uh..open computer?
As a person who began teaching entirely without the benefit of a union, I’m delighted to read this. Thank you, Toni!
People enter and leave the teaching profession rapidly, most commonly staying just 2-4 years, given the low pay, hard conditions, and lack of respect, particularly in places where teachers have no power, no collective influence, in short: no union.
Public schools are under attack, and this attack has been most successful where unions are absent or week. Hard on the heels of charter schools are vouchers, then tax credits to parents rather than vouchers, and finally, no general public funding for education. That’s the direction the far right has been pushing. Teachers’ unions stand against this push.
I’ve always suspected that the real issue many on the right have with American education isn’t that it fails some students but that it is much too successful at getting students to think. They want and need a steady supply of an underclass that unquestioningly does what it is told.
You are reading my mind, Andi. The method of “reform” has nothing to do with real systemic change, or addressing the real needs of our most vulnerable.
I think NCLB’s real intent is to return to the idea that the purpose of universal education is to produce a “useful” and compliant workforce.
Grrrr Snort! Must remain calm.
When we were first in-serviced about this law, I stood up in the meeting and told my colleagues that we had better march on Washington. They chuckled.
Now, they believe me.
When they rolled that out at our local school board meeting for the first time, I said “this looks like nothing more than a 5-year plan to destroy the public school system.”
And I was amazed that no one took issue with giving military recruiters access to the kids’ personal information.
Remember when I wrote about that recruiter in my class?
Indeed! thinking (& critical reading) would be, umm, subversive. Fortunately, many teachers are still doing exactly that — rather than just teaching ’em how to sit up straight & take dictation
in gestation: Constellations
A colleague’s child attends high school in a wealthy suburb and the mom was telling me that her daughter’s classes do standardized test practice all the time. They were not reading any literature.
Damn, and to think that for the past two weeks, I’ve been talking about censorship.
no literature –ouch
of course, it’s been long devalued as a tool for getting along in the world – just not ‘practical’ like math, science, or even psychology
a world we cannot comprehend without tales, stories, naratives, frames . . . (& a population that will consume them rather than critique, repeat rather than compare, is a compliant one)
Damn, and to think that for the past two weeks, I’ve been talking about censorship.
eh? am I missing something here? (or are you suggesting there’s no of need for overt censorship when the tools of complacency
are firmly in place?
My line about censorship.
What I should have added is that I am trying to get the students to think about censorship in a critical way, before we start our first novel – Huck Finn.
Any stories about working without a union would certainly benefit all of us. Please share some of that!
OK. I wrote half a diary entitled “Unions are the Work of the Devil” (an actual quote) but I thought people might not quite understand. . . All of my public school teaching experience before college teaching was in non-unionized schools.
I still might use the title, however. I think I’ll avoid finishing my syllabus for one more day, and put the diary up tomorrow. Yours is so good, but what I have to say is a thudding wet blanket.
Syllabus, shmllabus:)
I am looking forward to reading about your experiences,
I’m having the strange sensation of reading this while the famous Network scene of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!” is playing in the background. How appropriate.
Thanks to all of you who are doing this series. It’s one of the most underreported stories anywhere, the story of organized labor. I surely want to know more, more, more!!
Mad enough to be planning my own exit strategy from the profession after a decade.
Thanks Toni — both for this diary and all your efforts to teach and reach the young.
Thanks Andi and give Jim a big thanks from all of us.
Yay, Toni!
I learned a lot in class today.
Thanks to all the teachers. I truly don’t know how you all do it in the face of poverty on one end and a sense of extreme and entitlement and privilege on the other end with a strong dose of bureaucratic meddling throughout.
Thanks for participating in this series and thanks for teaching!
I second Kahli: I’ve learned a lot this morning catching up on all the diaries so far. We have such knowledgeable, informed, and caring people here at BT. Thank you for all your hard work in putting the series together. And thank you to teachers everywhere.
Thanks Olivia. I’m glad you liked it.
Thanks Kahli. This series was a great idea and I really enjoyed doing the research for this diary. I felt a little more invigorated.
Thank you Teacher Toni. Having a 7th grader in a poor urban school district has been both a blessing and a nightmare. The district, through gross mismanagement, went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the state, which then took control of the district. This has put an incredible strain on already strained teachers. Many schools have been shut down and teachers faced layoffs.
Last year, I wrote about having to choose between a mediocre school and a charter school. I chose the charter school, but not without agonizing over the decision. I fully support the teachers and the union, but in the end, I had to do what I felt best for Kamakid.
The charter school has been a very mixed blessing. After one year there, I discovered that the teachers were very unhappy, not unionized, and the turnover rate was astronomical. I worked with other parents, teachers, and the Board of Directors to address this problem. The last six months have been very interesting and educational. One thing the parents agreed upon, though, was that keeping our teachers happy was the single most important goal to ensuring a better school. The teachers are the backbone of the school and in our school, we ask an awful lot of them.
Coming into the new school year, we discovered that the Director of the school had resigned. This is very good news as he was a major reason so many teachers felt frustrated and disrespected. So, we started off the new year with nearly all new teachers and a new director, but a lot of hope that what we started last year will continue to change the way the school treats its teachers.
I think teachers are one of the most important occupations there is. But, they are also one of the least valued in our country. It is a truly sad state of affairs.
I have a great deal of respect for anyone who chooses teaching and education careers.
I don’t resent your decision. Choices for parents won’t get better as we continue to drain resources from the public school sector and redirect them to semi-private schools. In Michigan, charter schools are not accountable to anyone. They are run by for-profit entities.
They have swooped down into the community where I teach, lied to parents, and have caused at least 30 unionized teachers to lose their jobs.
I completely agree. Here, there are dozens of charter schools and at least 80% are terrible. There are a couple of good ones, but by and large they play on people’s fears of public schools, while offering up a very poor education and further eroding what little support and money there is for the public schools. Yet, in my area, there is not one single high school that is any good. All the good students are transferring either out of the district, or to private or charter schools, leaving the worst of the worst behind. It just makes me so angry.
NCLB is a total travesty. It solves nothing and has hurt more than it helps. Every single teacher I have talked to hates the program and most are talking about how soon they can retire or switch careers. Some have found jobs in the private and charter schools, but at the expense of being unionized.
Don’t even get me started on for-profit schools. Schools, jails, and hospitals should not be about profit. That is just a travesty.
I won’t get you started as it makes my blood just boil over.
TEACHERS!
If I ruled the world, teachers would be paid, honored and idolized like rock stars and professional athletes. They and mothers have the hardest jobs out there and they get the least pay, least recognition and the least thanks.
We turn our most prescious resource, our children, over to teachers and then expect teachers to work without adequate tools, supplies, support and then give them gurdgingly the low pay we give. If it is a problem at the top. . .blame the teachers. . .if it is a problem in the classroom. . .blame the teachers. . .if there is a problem anywhere in the educational system. . .blame the teachers. It seems to me that for the most part all we do give teachers is the blame for everything.
Thank you Toni for being one of those I admire most, a TEACHER. Thanks to all of the Teachers out there. You certainly made my world rock and have meaning. Thank you all!
Big, big hugs,
Shirl
In place of my own comments I’d like to associate myself as closely as possible with you and your comments Shirl :o)
Well, come on baby, move in closer. Let’s just become ONE in the heart, soul and mind that we already are.
Much love and hugs all over
Shirl
Thanks Shirl.
I’ll say this, sometimes my colleagues are doofuses (sp?). But the system is designed in a manner that it is impossible to get rid of them. That is not the fault of tenure or the unions, but the fault of administrators who either won’t or don’t have the time to adequately assess the staff.
I have been at my current job 10 years, during which I have had 3 evaluations.
Nice post Toni! I have a question for you concerning funding over here in Michigan compared to funding in Ontario. As you are painfully aware, the state stipend to school districts per student varies from district to district. Here we obviously feel that although all students are equal under the law, some district’s students are a bit, or a whole lot more equal.
Does this institutionalized funding inequity exist in Canada??
In Ontario, funding is equalized. So, the rich suburbs of Toronto receive the same as the working class neighborhoods of Windsor. At least that is how my husband understands it.
There is also a province-wide curriculum and standards for students’ grades.
There is, however, gov’t funding for Catholic schools. This drives me up the wall, but it apparently has something to do with agreements made in the rather distant past.
Thank you, Teacher! I learned something extra today because of your excellent presentation here.
If I were the dictator of the world, teachers would immediately get doubled and tripled salaries, free homes, and pedestals to stand on for the glory of the work that they do. When we elevate teachers to their proper status in the world, we will attract the best and brightest to the profession. As long as teacher pay is low, the hours long, and the community-at-large lacks respect, the world will continue to be in peril. Period.
Thank you blueneck.
After fund raising and campaigning for a few days, I can finally sit down and catch up on the Working Together series.
I have enormous respect for teachers. When I was a kid, my best friend’s mom was an elementary teacher. She never clocked out from work and we were the recipients of all her years of knowledge no matter where we were or what time of day.
My grandfather, a superintendent and the first child to attend college in our family, was the same. He taught me to identify plants and trees, how to fish and shoot a 22. After retiring, he painted. I have his self-portrait in my living room. He wound up an administrator, but never forgot his classroom days.
Thank you Teacher Toni, for the great lesson.
Thank you for those lovely remembrances, Indianadem.