Working In These Times
Fit to Teach? Chicago Union Files Charges Over Standardized Test for Teachers
Chicago school teachers demonstrate June 22, 2011 outside the offices of the Chicago Board of Education to protest the board's decision to rescind a 4 percent annual raise promised to the teachers in their contracts. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
At first the statements might sound innocuous, or even admirable declarations of a renegade and independent spirit:
I help people when they need it, even when that means risking a confrontation.
I love being a champion for my ideas, even against others’ opposition.
I love to challenge the status quo.
But the Chicago Teachers Union, locked in a bitter battle with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Board of Education over various issues, alleges that administrators want to get would-be teachers’ responses to these statements as a way of testing their feelings about the