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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

CHICAGO TEACHERS NOT EASILY FOOLED « Teachers Fight Back

CHICAGO TEACHERS NOT EASILY FOOLED « Teachers Fight Back:


CHICAGO TEACHERS NOT EASILY FOOLED

It’s certainly no surprise that the Chicago Teachers’ Union voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming 90% vote. Most of the Chicago teachers that I know have never bought into the whole “teacher and school reform” nonsense. They know poor student achievement isn’t their fault just as they know their union doesn’t hinder anyone from achieving in school. They have refused to be bullied by the big moneyed interests that saw an opportunity to break teacher unions by portraying the unions as part of what ails schools. Most Chicago teachers are not the kind of people who sheepishly accepted the propaganda notion that somehow incompetent teachers and their unions are blocking educational progress.
I hope it’s not too late for the teachers of many other school districts to learn from the example of the Chicago teachers. I hope the teachers of those districts wake up and realize they have been the victims of one of the most successful propaganda campaigns in recent memory. I hope those teachers start to fight the forces that have sown seeds of guilt among them. Those teachers have been tricked, bamboozled, browbeaten and come to accept the idea that somehow their unions and their own incompetence has resulted in poor academic performance by students.
Chicago teachers know what causes poor student performance and the factors number in the hundreds and