Monday, September 10, 2012

Standing up to Rahm - Salon.com

Standing up to Rahm - Salon.com:


Standing up to Rahm

Bullied by their city's Democratic mayor, teachers in Chicago are making a bold stand against misguided "reform"

Standing up to Rahm
(Credit: AP/Sitthixay Ditthavong)
When I was a kid, teachers were like gods. In eighth grade, my school had a day where students got to take over and make lesson plans, teach a class or two, try and get our fellow students to pay attention. After being selected to teach English, I still remember the thrill of going in the teacher’s lounge for lunch — a place that usually only the most special people got to go.
Those special people called teachers didn’t get paid very well, particularly when you factored in the long hours grading papers and prepping, but they got our gratitude. And that, plus a decent pension, was enough.
When I was a kid, having a good teacher was the key ingredient to getting a good education, just as it is now. And when I was a kid my teachers were unionized, just as they are now. But now the same