Weingarten: Educators must save democracy | American Federation of Teachers
Weingarten: Educators must save democracy
“Teachers have always had power,” AFT President Randi Weingarten told the crowd at the TEACH opening plenary Thursday afternoon. “We need to own our power. And we need to build our power so we can move our agenda—for our students and our families; for safe, welcoming and well-funded public schools; for affordable higher education; healthcare that is a right, not a privilege; a living wage; a decent retirement; a healthy climate and a strong democracy.”
Weingarten drew roaring approval for her recognition that educators, including paraprofessionals and support staff, are playing an increasingly crucial role in shaping the nation’s agenda. For example, the teacher strikes were “an amazing inflection point, making clear to America that teachers want what students need,” and the strikes helped win important funding for public schools. AFT affiliates are also winning important improvements to their schools through contract language, ensuring that their students will have a nurse in every school, more mental health professionals and raises for teachers who have gone without pay increase for years. And at the federal level, teacher activists helped pass a bill through the House of Representatives to increase investment in public schools by $4.5 billion, boosting programs like Title I, to fund low-income schools, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Educators have a place at the table in a way they did not just 10 years ago when, Weingarten recalled, a Time magazine cover featured a photo of a school superintendent sweeping out so-called bad teachers. “Today, presidential candidates are one-upping each other with their support of teachers and public schools. We have changed the narrative about public education and, in so doing, have helped preserve it.”
Labor has also grown in strength, even after the Janus Supreme Court case that threatened union power. “Janus also inspired us to do more of what we do best as a union—to engage with members,” said Weingarten. “And it reminded us of an essential truth about unions: Together, we can achieve what would be impossible on our own.”
But it’s a fight that must continue. Education continues to be under-resourced, so the AFT has launched
Fund Our Future, an initiative that pushes for funding from pre-K through higher education.
Educators must be guardians of our democratic principles such as human dignity, equal rights, tolerance of diversity, civility and the rule of law, AFT President Randi Weingarten said during her keynote address at AFT TEACH on July 11: “The fight to safeguard American democracy begins in our classrooms and our schools. And TEACH is chock-full of how-to sessions.”
One such session, “Current Events Classroom—Teaching About Bias, Diversity and Social Justice,” helped the educators who packed the room learn strategies to talk about current news topics like immigration and family separation, the #MeToo movement, pay inequality and other news events from multiple perspectives.
Talking about current events in the classroom is a great way to engage students while building on the skills they need to become educated and empowered citizens, said the session’s presenter Michelle Magner, assistant education director at the Anti-Defamation League.
The session began with a question. Where do we get our news? The answers ranged from television to podcasts. And while most adults get their news from a variety of sources, including television, social media, radio or newspapers, most 18- to 29-year-olds get their news from online sources such as Twitter or Facebook. But Magner warned that there is a danger in getting news from a single source.
“Thanks to the advent of social media and technology, [students] may be getting information from the same place, and that impacts their perception of things,” said Magner. “Using different news resources can combat media bias.”
Most educators use current events in their classroom; according to a survey from the Education Week Research Center, which Magner shared with attendees, some of the issues teachers said they are talking to their students about focus on race/ethnicity, immigration, national politics, gender roles, gun violence, LGBTQ issues, and cyberbullying.
Although the topics can be controversial, a majority of educators (55 percent) don’t shy away from the discussion, according to the same survey. That means the other 45 percent do avoid such discussion, Magner noted.
One reason for this avoidance is the fine line between what educators can discuss and the support they get from their administrators, said many of the teachers in the session.
“Usually I talk about the facts of an event, but sometimes we have to pause and talk about life,” said Andrea Dockery-Murray, a member of the Cleveland Teachers Union.
