Chicago Teachers Strike

Yesterday in class I learned about the teacher strike currently going on in Chicago. Teachers are going on strike for mainly two reasons, one is a serious decline in public school funding, but more importantly the second one is the demands for results from students grades. If the students standardized test scores don't match the schools demands then thousands of teachers could lose their jobs. (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chicago-teachers-strike-20120911,0,1301512.story)

I am amazed at what is happening with this strike. It is not news to me that teachers are getting ripped off, but the fact that the teachers are acting and refusing to work really ties in to Chomsky's Occupied Media reading. Teachers are really hurting themselves obviously by not working, but what's alarming to me is the harm they are doing to the students and the citizens of Chicago. Public school parentss pay tax dollars to make sure their children have the opportunities at school that they need. With the teacher strike, teachers are not only out of work but children are either out of school or receiving serious limitations.

Learning about movements to bring about change is interesting to me. But the serious difference between Occupy Wall Street and the Chicago Teaching Strike is that in the case of Occupy, the participants are the ones who suffer most of the consequences, where as with the Teaching Strike it also effects the students who had no say in whether or not their should be a strike. Also, the teachers strike obviously has much simpler goals than that of Occupy. But they also seriously need more immediate results.

This could be revolutionary for the citizens of Chicago and eventually teachers througout the country. President Obama has chosen to remain neutral in this disagreement to protect voters in the upcoming election. I am fascinated, and somewhat inspired, by these examples of community based concern and how they are responded with action. I have learned more about Occupy Wall Street and the motives behind it, but I would still like to know what's realistic and what is not. There is still a lot that confuses me. But the dedication to the multiple issues, and the commitment to change is what I find inspiring.

The Teachers strike is just an example of how community organization can raise awareness and hopefully change to serious issues. I am interested in the results, but I hope they are reached as soon as possible for the teachers, but more importantly the citizens of Chicago. The results of this will be extremely important as it could have a serious impact on teachers throughout the United States.