Robb- CTU Strike

Noticing Blog 2 :CTU STRIKE

          

  I want to preface this blog post with by saying I am (obviously) a little biased. Being a student teacher, and eventually becoming a teacher, I feel for a lot of what the CTU is fighting for, especially concerning the students. A great majority of the bargaining that continued throughout the week concerned smaller class sizes, more time at recess, in P.E. and more playgrounds, more arts in schools and funding for libraries and healthier school lunches.

            In a Washington Post article, a reporter talked of how the teachers also wanted to end an “apartheid-like” system, where in CPS, “discipline policies” do “disproportionate harm on students of color.” I was unfamiliar with this impression about the system and I did wonder how exactly the CTU could go about negotiating the terms of their own contract to change this. I will continue to look into the “CPS apartheid” and I found a really interesting article online, as well as an infographic comparing Walter Dyett High School (near Hyde Park) and Whitney M Young High School: http://socialistworker.org/2012/09/13/apartheid-in-chicago-schools.

            Because I have a love of Early Childhood Ed (Pre-K through grade 2), and I intend to specialize in it in my master’s degree, I was happy to see that the CTU was fighting for preschool and full-day kindergarten for all students. From personal experience the students in my Kindergarten class who attended in-school or out of district preschool are much more well adjusted to the school-life setting and they, for the most part, are ahead of the curve compared to their peers who are still learning to operate in a school setting.

            Because I have a minor in TESOL, reading that the CTU also wanted guaranteed better bi-lingual programs was exciting for me. I already feel that my own school, Walsh, has a really excellent bi-lingual program, or at least supports for bi-lingual education, but it is something that should be consistent district wide. Better special needs programs are also on the table and I believe that this is beneficial to all teachers and their students.

            And all of this is great, and amazing, and I am glad that teachers, parents and student have stood up and made their voices heard. I wish they could do this in Detroit, where I have worked in the public schools for the past two summers. But where is the money for all of this? It is the sad reality that in these times, there might not be money enough for all of these programs. However, I would just like to say that if Rahm Emmanuel has money to sue the CTU for striking, why doesn’t the city have the money to fund some of these programs?