Re: Restraint and Mass Refusal

["George N. Schmidt" <Csubstance@AOL.COM>]

In a message dated 1/31/01 9:31:00 AM, SOhan70241@AOL.COM writes:

<< I think New Democracy's tactic of working with union locals, one by one, is
the tactic to take. The nationals may be pro-testing but there is plenty of
evidence that plenty of locals are anti-testing. And local resistance is
pushing national, at least in the NEA. >>

This point cannot be stated too forcefully.

There is an election in the Chicago Teachers Union on May 18, 2001. I won't
be running for anything because my recent termination has also placed my
union membership in question (after nearly 40 continuous years of membership
in various unions, going back to the old United Meatcutters and Butcher
Workmen in New Jersey and then the Teamsters in Newark in the early 1960s.
The leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union and their bosses in City Hall don't
want our voices in "their" unions.

Anyway, it looks like Chicago Teachers Union president Tom Reece will have
opposition from Debbie Walsh (who once worked for Al Shanker in the AFT nation
al office and who at one time was a prominent "reform" person). We will be
covering the election stuff in a big way in Substance, and if people from
everywhere remind the candidates that a lot rides on Chicago, it may in fact
help.

1. Petitions. My one suggestion for the NewDem CARE thing is to give teachers
something modest to do -- like sign a petition.

A petition against high-stakes testing might be as much as some hearts can
flutter towards at this point in history. But if the petition gets all
necessary information (including home address and ZIP Code), it's also a
mailing list. It's also a major fact that these bean counters we oppose count
every darned bean. Last summer, they went nuts at the school board when
dozens of people wrote letters in support of me. Their $127,000-per-year
chief attorney was assigned to go through all the letters and tally up the
exact precise number.

A petition with hundreds of signatures is good.

A petition with thousands is very interesting.

A petition with hundreds of thousands will scare the noses off of the most
Testocratic politician. The only thing they can do is count beans. Let's
suffocate them in beans.

2. Curricular crimes tribunals. Although Teach Ins will be on the agenda for
awhile, we might also think about having teachers, students and parents
testify about the crimes committed against curriculum, kids and learning in
each of the Testocracies. Filmed, these would turn out to be very powerful
statements. How much drama, music, and art have you sacrificed to "raise"
"reading scores" two points? How many books weren't read while kids drilled
expensive test prep bubble sheets? Etc.

3. Outrage in their faces. One of the best actions we've ever witnessed was
the June 2000 protest at the Detroit Board of Education meeting, which shut
down the Board after the singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing." We covered
that story in Substance. It was exciting to be there, but nobody outside a
handful of people even knew it happened because of the national media
blackout on protests that was going on before the Gore and Bush people turned
half of Florida into a circus for a month.

Now that loudness is in, people might keep the Detroit example in mind. We'll
provide details if necessary. It was great taking pictures of that one.

Each of these things can be done patiently, in each state and city.

We will try to cover as much as possible if people get us copy and graphics.
At some point, a monthly won't be good enough to do the job, and our Web
sites (where people have them) will also begin falling behind. But every
cookie baked and every button worn will (hopefully) give rise to more teacher
protest, so that this ignoble chapter in American teacher history gets turned
around before too long.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance
5132 W Berteau
Chicago, IL 60641
773-725-7502

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