Fwd: Re: [] Ed Trust report and economics

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

> <http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=6154>http://susanohanian.org/show_outrages.html?id=6154
>
> George Schmidt---
> <mailto:csubstance@aol.com>csubstance@aol.com wrote:
> > June 10, 2006
> >
> > I read the Ed Trust report and the coverage locally here (Sun-Times,
> > Defender, Tribune) with rage.
> >
> > Left out is the fact that at this point in history, Chicago teachers are the
> > lowest paid (at the high school level) and among the lowest paid (at
> > elementary and high school levels) in the Chicago area. That, plus the 
> > fact that
> > working conditions (total gestalt, from class size to threat of violence) 
> > are the
> > worst in the greater Chicago area (the six counties or the ten) make it
> > impossible for the "market" to hold Chicago teachers. Yet the people who 
> > are promoting
> > this nonsense are also, generally, also promoting "choice" for public
> > schools.
> >
> > Perhaps my personal experiences add intensity to this set of observations.
> >
> > After losing my teaching job in Chicago's public schools for heresy in 1999
> > (the publication of the CASE tests, recounted on our Web site at
> > <http://www.substancenews>www.substancenews.com), I picked up another 
> > Chicago job, working for the Chicago Teachers
> > Union in 2001. After being fired from that job in August 2004 when Debbie 
> > Lynch
> > lost her seat as president of the Chicago Teachers Union, I thought I'd be
> > able to go back to teaching, either in Chicago or the suburbs.
> >
> > Not only was I blacklisted in Chicago (the "Do not hire" list), but the
> > suburbs enforced the same blacklist. That surprised me, but led to 18 
> > months of
> > semi-employement, during which I applied for jobs at every public high 
> > school in
> > Chicago's suburbs, visiting most of them and going to job fairs. In the
> > process of doing that, I got to see the Savage Inequalities between 
> > Chicago and
> > suburbs first hand. There is, at this point in history, no way to discuss 
> > our
> > "public schools" at one thingy. The majority of Chicago's suburban high 
> > schools
> > bear no relation to Chicago's inner city public high schools -- where I 
> > taught
> > for 28 years between 1969 and 1999.
> >
> > Last irony? I have my BA in English and Humanities from the University of
> > Chicago and have taught at every level from Kg through 12 in CPS.
> >
> > If the current reformers -- who are mostly corporate ideologues like Ed 
> > Trust
> > or some others with little or no actual classroom experience and agendas
> > bashing public schools and public servants -- had anything to say, I'd 
> > listen. But
> > every time they come out with a "study" like this piece of nonsense and 
> > don't
> > mention salaries, benefits and working conditions, someone should scream the
> > truth, not just try to write it.
> >
> > But this hasn't been about the truth of educating children from the 
> > beginning
> > of accountability to the end. It's been about power. And that's where those
> > of us having this conversation should be going. Because until we have the 
> > power
> > to simply stop them from abusing kids, this conversation will continue, 
> > as it
> > has since I joined it after I was suspended by Paul Vallas in 1999, like a
> > Merry Go Round.
> >
> > Abolish NCLB.
> >
> > Expose the hypocrisy of corporate "school reform."
> >
> > Bring back democratic public schools and a concern for the education of all
> > children.
> >
> > It's already too late.
> >
> > George N. Schmidt
> > Editor, Substance
> > <http://www.substancenews>www.substancenews.com
>
> __._,_.___ 1c81ca.jpg