The "U" Word

It’s a conversation that I bet many of us have had from time to time.  There I was Sunday morning prior to church, socializing with an old friend of mine prior to the service.  He asked me how the beginning of school was going, how my students were, that kind of thing.  I reminded him that I would not be in the classroom this year, but would instead be serving as the President of our union.
  

That’s all it took.  Suddenly the expression on his face changed from one of happy encouragement to a puzzled, questioning look.

The first thing he wanted to know about my new position was whether those “bad teachers” were getting fired. “Does anyone ever get fired,” he asked? (They do, but that’s a subject for later on)   He went on to expound upon the importance of teachers and their unions being about the kids and not about themselves. 

This would have been easy to dismiss if my friend could be simply pigeon holed as a far conservative, anti-public education individual, but he can’t.  I’ve worked with my friend on a variety of social justice related issues.  I know he cares deeply about immigrant rights, ending homelessness, providing equitable and effective support for the mentally ill, and the list goes on.  What’s more, he knows me as an activist in this vein as well. 

But the “U” word, that word union, tripped him up, as I suspect it may do for some of us as well. 
   

There are strong and well-organized voices out there that have expounded on a theme that goes something like:  “Teachers Good, Teacher Unions Bad.”  Or sometimes it’s just as plain as “teachers are greedy, they don’t really care about the kids.” 

Whatever form these assertions take, they serve to identify the very real work we have to do to help our citizenry understand what we do and identify genuine education reform needs.

The good news is that the conversation with my friend is only beginning.  The next time we chat I know we’ll get to talk about the following:

• Teachers do care about kids. How could we not?  It’s the very core of who we are and the nature of our jobs.
• Taking care of our own families and taking care of our students are not mutually exclusive things. Teaching is a profession, not a call to martyrdom. 
• Collective bargaining is the key way in which educators advocate for our students.  Really.  Because working conditions for teachers are also learning conditions for our students. 
• The Teacher’s Union cares about teacher quality. 

These aren’t hard things to talk about because, well, they’re true! 

I’m looking forward to telling the truth next Sunday already.