‘Tis the Gift to be Simple . . . or Not?
This past Saturday, I visited the local Home Depot. My kitchen sink was clogged and I needed help. As I entered the store, I noticed a middle-aged woman just outside the front doors with a clip-board. She approached another customer and earnestly asked, “Are you interested in helping to save our schools?” Not getting the expected response, she added, “Unions are destroying our schools. Help us end their negative influence.” Initially wary and rushed, the customer stopped. “This is about Unions?,” he asked. When informed that the petition supported legislation to end collective bargaining in California, the customer signed and commented, “I just saw that Superman movie. Seems like just about the only good thing unions do is protect bad teachers.”
Even in our age of sound bites, I was struck by the simplicity of this exchange. In a minute or so, the complex discussion about education reform had been reduced to a few sentences. Reporter Jonathan Mahler in a recent NY Times article notes that this ongoing discussion about improving our schools is based on false dichotomies.
