Wednesday September 19th
With the
strike continuing the controversy and opinions of the public also continue. I
have taken the opportunity to explore the community and the south side of
Chicago while the strike has progressed. When I was out exploring it has been
very interesting to listen to conversations people have about the strike. I
believe it is important to voice your opinion but I also have low tolerance for
ignorance. Some comments I have heard do not display a sense of knowledge about
the strike or why it is occurring. I can’t say that I am an expert on the
strike because I am not. I think I am informed and can form my own opinion but
I do not know everything there is to know. When I first heard about the strike I was
confused about what exactly was going on. I didn’t really know what that was
going to mean for us as interns or what it was going to do for the community.
At first I will be honest and admit that I took the days to run errands and
organize myself, but as the strike continued it began to wear on me. I felt a
need to be back in the class and back in the short routine that we had started.
I had never thought that the strike would have lasted as long as it has. But
this week I decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium and the Science and Industry
Museum to experience some of the great things this city has to offer.
On Monday
September 17th, it was “free admission” day for the residents of
Illinois. Going to the aquarium proved to be not only a great idea for a few
interns, but also hundreds of others. As
we waited in a line for close to an hour and half I was able to hear a man
behind us say something about the strike that really hit me hard. The man
behind us was talking to his three children and proceeded to say “those
teachers need to get off their lazy a**es and get back to work.” I was stunned
at this comment and didn’t really know how to react. I stood there for a minute
trying to digest such a harsh and blunt comment. I was immediately angry at
such a comment along with the language he was using with his children. I also
had an overwhelming amount of frustration towards his lack of understanding
about the strike.
Today, September 18th I decided to make a trip to
the Science and Industry Museum with my roommates. At the tornado exhibit I
noticed that one of my first grade students and his mother were standing in
front of me. Besides being overly excited that the mother and student
approached me with such enthusiasm and happiness, I was pleased to hear some
positive and supportive opinion. The mother asked me how the contract was going
and I explained that I am not part of the teachers union as I am a student
teacher right now but I am excited to get back in the class. She replied saying,
“ I want you to be back in the classroom too but I think its important what
teachers are doing because you mean so much to my son and you deserve more.” I
was so happy to hear this because sometimes the news and negative opinions bring
me down.
After hearing both of these comments from people in the
community I wanted to take some time to digest the differences in the comments.
I also realized that it isn’t shocking since the media is presents the strike
in such polar opposites terms. The CPS and the CTU leaders are constantly
making comments about progress, or the reason to strike or many other problems
and they are always on complete different pages. So it shouldn’t be surprising
that the public see the strike in such black and white differences.
No comments:
Post a Comment