all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Saturday, November 01, 2003 np: bob dylan - highway 61 revisited there's an update over at the j's indie/rock blog. quite an un-eventful halloween. teaching truly is sucking the life out of me. i fell asleep somewhere around eight p.m. or so and managed to wake up about twenty minutes before my show started. but i need those naps in order to be fully conscious for the show. so i sacrifice my friday evenings for..well..my friday nights. so with the ongoing situation in chicago involving a potential teachers' strike, several conversations between myself and others have been prompted about the rights of teachers to a) unionize and b) to strike as a form of protest. obviously this is something that hits home for me. although living in north carolina puts one in a strange position. north carolina has the north carolina association of educators (NCAE) which is precisely what it says; an association, not a union. north carolina has laws prohibiting its teachers from unionizing, leaving them with just the NCAE as a lobbying representative. whether this is connected to north carolina's continued status of paying teachers barely at or below the national average salary is uncertain. but the argument has erupted lately that teachers aren't truly underpaid. that for only working nine months a year (despite the obvious fallacy of that statement) they aren't that poor off. and certainly in comparison to others with four-year degrees, an average starting salary (as of 2000) of $28k isn't too bad. but i would argue that teachers come into their jobs more adequately and thoroughly trained than your average bachelor's degree. at guilford, prior to setting foot in the classroom to do my student teaching (which, in effect, is the true test of my ability in the waters before having an actual job), i spent five-hundred and seventy three (573) hours either observing, participating or teaching in the classroom. by the end of student teaching i will have spent an additional six hundred (600) hours (a generous figure given the additional amount of time spent after school working with kids and time at home grading. the six-hundred figure is based on fifteen weeks of an average forty-hour work week) teaching and observing. so, having compiled 1173 hours of experience prior to having a job, i feel that, to a large extent, i am fairly well prepared to do an okay job. in addition to this amount of internship experience, i have to pass at least 2 (in some states 3) of the national teacher certification exams (PRAXIS) in basic comprehension (math/verbal), content specific information and pedagogy (for me: english content knowledge and methodology) and general educational pedagogy (teaching methodology). also, in order for teachers to retain licensure, they must spend a certain amount of hours in workshops, observation and so on adding skills to their trade, usually in technology fields. they have to repeat these hours every five years or so. now, given that i will set foot in the classroom next year with that amount of training and assurance that i am prepared, am i sufficiently paid? that's the question. as of december i will be the holder of two bachelor degrees: bachelor of arts - english and bachelor of science - education. i feel proud of that fact. and i feel proud and confident in my knowledge base. i am always expanding, but that should be the nature of any discipline. so, after sidetracking for some background information, should teachers strike? they do have a responsibility to the kids afterall, who obviously have nothing to do with the situation that has caused the teachers to think strike in the first place. and as such are beholden, as government employees, to have the best interest of the public in mind. but does this limit them from seeking proper compensation for their work? the option of a lobbying group, as opposed to a union, seems like a weak option. and striking outright seems like heavy-handed bargaining that leaves the kids out in the cold and earns no sympathy for the teachers, despite their obvious need for it. but strikes have never been about sympathy. they're about principle. strikes always end up costing workers more in wages in the interim than they stand to gain by winning the fight. it seems self-defeating. but there is a pride that goes along with unionization and with workers in general. that pride is based on the fact that they are skilled workers (for the most part) who feel that there is a line that has been crossed at some point. a line which makes them feel as if their work has gone underappreciated or unnoticed or trampled upon for the last time. granted, i have a subjective opinion on all this. these are my people. and i sympathize with them a bit too much for an objective examination of the situation. but with a federal government that increasingly proves that they truly have no interest in the betterment of the public system by testing our children to death under the banner of teacher accountability, there is little recourse for teachers. those who would wave away their complaints with the hackneyed statement that 'times are tough all over' are playing the reductionist. and to be told to accept an unacceptable situation simply because "everyone" is going through the same is self-defeating and silly. speaking of schools, these girls in philadelphia have been getting the heroes' treatment for their beating of a flasher who had repeatedly accosted their private school on numerous occasions. the man flashed them one too many times and with the help of local citizens, a group of twenty some girls chased the man down and beat and kicked him until police arrested him. atrios is correct to mention that, while your gut reaction is to say kudos to those girls, vigilante justice (and don't kid yourself by saying this is anything but) is not the way to go. there are some interesting comments here as well about this situation. i have to say i agree. especially with bob's point that one of the people involved had to have had a cell phone on them. (a group of twenty teenagers at a private catholic school somewhere in america without a cell phone? i think not.) and if they had enough neighbor support to chase the man down and hold him while the girls beat him, they had enough man power to hold him until the cops could arrive. happy all saints day to you all. and may your dia de los muertos bring you warm and loving thoughts of loved ones past and passed. posted by J. Neas | 11/01/2003 03:25:00 AM
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