Our wonderful village has survived a recent crisis, a teacher’s strike that kept 1,800 students away from their schools and teachers and education for 2 weeks. I am relieved to say that the boys will head back to school on Monday.
I am pro-student, pro-teacher, pro- parent, pro-tax payer. I did not take a side between our School Board and Union, because my opinion is somewhere in the middle. This blog article, too, is my opinion, and you are welcome to disagree.
What I am challenging us all to ask is “What have we learned from this experience?”
We have to learn from history, or we are doomed to repeat it (para. G. Santayana). There are many lessons from this experience that I hope my children and I remember, and that they carry with them, long after they go back to school and grow up and become adults and parents themselves. Here are 4:
Remember that Words Matter.
We choose to build up others or tear them down with our words and our actions. Building up takes more work, but which would you rather be remembered for?
Words are important. Words can hurt when yelled at others, whether across a table or across the street. And those same words can help and heal, if you are willing to try a little harder. Did you teach your kids that this week?
Think for yourself.
Ask Questions. All the time. Keep learning and educating your self on new ideas, you get to choose! These last 2 weeks, I researched and learned a lot about unions, school boards and the negotiation process.
Speak for yourself, and Get Involved.
Know your mind and speak up. Don’t let others speak for you. Just because someone is the loudest, either in print, on the street or in you face, that does not make them Right. It just makes them the loudest. Shame on me for not speaking up until the day before the strike began, for sitting back while this drama unfolded for months before weighing in.
Stand up for what is “right”, but respect one another.
Because your “Right” and other people’s “Right” may not be the same, but you both feel strongly about your “Right”, and there is truth in every side of most arguments. My faith teaches me to respect others, regardless of their opinions. We all have to find middle ground for a community to function.
If you are in my community or even if you are not, take this opportunity to sit down with your kids and talk about this process. If they are heading back to their classrooms on Monday like mine, build them up to go back to school and embrace their teachers, friends and education. Remind them how great our community is and how lucky we all are to live here. And from every experience, ask “What have we learned?”
Thanks for this timely message, Colleen. Last week, I sympathized with EP parents as the teacher’s strike entered its second week. My solidarity with the Chicago teachers definitely wore thin by the 2nd week of the CTU strike.
I understand the EP strike was particularly contentious and pitted neighbor against neighbor in a way that the CTU strike generally did not. That’s unfortunate. I hope the adults are able to let it go and get back to the business of teaching and learning.
Anyway, I appreciate your thoughtful and balanced view. I’ve felt really torn on this issue since the beginning of the school year. I am generally pro-labor, but . . . it’s complicated. And it’s different to be “pro-labor” in the abstract vs. having your life upended by a protracted strike.
It doesn’t help when the adults on both sides are acting like children. It sort of makes you wonder about the people who are supposedly educating our children, doesn’t it? And, like you, it made me reflect on our responsibility as parents to educate our children, rather than leave the job to the so-called professionals.
Now that things have settled down, let’s try to set up an organizing appointment for my dad later this month, okay? It’s not urgent, though.
Have a good week, Bridget O’Rourke
Bridget, thanks for your comment. I know that not just my little village has seen drama recently, I was thinking the same thing last week, empathizing with the CPS parents!
Unfortunately, “particularly contentious” is very fitting, though I am glad to say that I see a return to normal civility around town. And yes, you are right – it is all complicated, in my community and even in my own heart and mind!
We did use this as a learning experience, about what is right and civil and respectful, and my responsibilities to my children and my community. There were other lessons I learned, personally, but they were not as useful to the healing process, so I will work through them personally instead of publicly!
We’ll talk soon, thank you again. Peace-Colleen