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Chicago Teacher Strike Ends - WJ
<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-09-20T00:00:00-05:00">September 20, 2012</span>
By Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch's blog (Tue, 2012-09-18 00:00)
<p>You have heard the news by now that the strike is over.<br />
I was lecturing in Chattanooga and meeting with leaders<br />
of the community from 2 pm until now. My brother<br />
tweeted to ask why I was behind the curve. Oops,<br />
offline.<br />
<br />
Pundits and commentators will be poring over the Deep<br />
Meaning of all this for weeks and months to come. There<br />
will be countless articles about Lessons Learned.<br />
<br />
Personally, I think we have a good idea already about<br />
why the teachers went on strike. No, it wasn't greed or<br />
money. The compensation piece was more or less settled<br />
before the strike. Pundits and talk-show hosts who take<br />
home hundreds of thousands a year will express outrage<br />
that teachers - teachers! - might make $80,000. I ask<br />
you, who adds more social value - a first grade teacher<br />
in Chicago or a talk show host on national radio or TV?<br />
<br />
<strong>Why did they strike?</strong> After 17 years of reform and<br />
disrespect, they were fed up with the bullying. They<br />
were tired of the non-educators and politicians telling<br />
them how to teach and imposing their remedies. Reform<br />
after reform, and children in Chicago still don't have<br />
the rich curriculum, the facilities, and the social<br />
services they need.<br />
<br />
They were sick of the incessant school closings. They<br />
were sick of seeing charter schools open that get<br />
wildly uneven results yet are praised to the skies by<br />
Arne Duncan and now Rahm Emanuel. They knew that the<br />
charter schools are non-union and that the Mayor will<br />
use them to break the union.<br />
<br />
In the end, the union pitted itself against Rahm<br />
Emanuel, Arne Duncan, Chicago's business and civic<br />
leadership, and the Race to the Top. It took on the<br />
most powerful forces in the city, and yes, even<br />
President Obama, who remained neutral.<br />
<br />
And by taking a stand, by uniting to resist the power<br />
elite, these teachers discovered they were strong. They<br />
had been downtrodden and disrespected, but no longer.<br />
They put on their red T-shirts and commanded the<br />
attention of the nation and the admiration of millions<br />
of teachers. Powerless no more, they showed that unity<br />
made them strong. 98% voted to authorize the strike,<br />
and 98% voted to end it.<br />
<br />
The union was fortunate in having Karen Lewis as its<br />
president. She was one of them. She had taught<br />
chemistry in the Chicago public schools for more than<br />
20 years. She is one of the few - perhaps the only -<br />
union leader in the nation who is Nationally Board<br />
Certified, a mark of her excellence as a teacher.<br />
<br />
Not only is she a teacher through and through, she is a<br />
graduate of Dartmouth. She is neither impressed nor<br />
intimidated by the elites who flaunt their Ivy League<br />
credentials. Hers are as good as theirs. Maybe better.<br />
She is a woman of valor.<br />
<br />
Karen Lewis gave courage to her members, and they gave<br />
courage to her.<br />
<br />
The strike is one of the few weapons available to the<br />
powerless. Without the union, the teachers would have<br />
been ignored, and the politicians would be free to keep<br />
on reforming them again and again and again.<br />
<br />
The strike transformed the teachers from powerless to<br />
powerful.<br />
<br />
The teachers said, "Enough is enough. With us, not to<br />
us."<br />
<br />
Regardless of the terms of the contract, the teachers<br />
won.<br />
<br />
Thank you, CTU.</p>
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