You Don’t Stand With Us: My Response to an #EDUSolidarity Highjacking Attempt
Two weeks ago, I was asked for the umpteenth time why a teacher like me would support the UFT, let alone want to be chapter leader. Realizing that answering the question by myself would do little to change anything, I reached out to some colleagues, and very quickly the EDUSolidarity project developed. Twelve of us, including my hero, Deborah Meier, signed on as co-sponsors, and a week later, we had the pleasure of watching over 100 teachers stand up in solidarity to answer this question. Each poster interpreted the “like me” part in her or his own way and used it as the foundation for why she or he supports unions.
In a Gotham Schools Community post (where I also blog), Ruben Brosbe claimed to stand up with us. EDUSolidarity was an open thread and he was certainly entitled to write whatever he wanted in response to it. His post, however, was an insult to everything we were trying to do, and failed to address who he is as a teacher. I want to explain this through the lens of what I meant by “teachers like me.” A teacher like me teaches students first, using the content in my class to engage them as people and current or potential
