Chicago Teachers' Experience - Case Study Example

Chicago Teachers' Experience Teachers’ Perspective The Chicago teachers was involved in the in the strike due to numerous demands. Community organizers and the Chicago teachers union matched to the streets. The strike was backed by the court. The community organization backed the teachers due to their common interest. These will enable as understand the conflict from the teachers point of view. There was on the opinion that the government was paying less attention to the kid and as a result hurting them. Money was being channeled to according to the striking teachers to other projects that were not necessary rather than the Childs education (Cooper, Cibulka, and Fusarelli 89). The other issue was that most of the turnaround school as the result many children left with no other alternative. The program was designed to help students with chronic failure and their family. The government had failed to account for their duties in that they had resulted to the down fall of the schools hence hurting the children. The was the other issue of children being left out with no teachers due to teachers attending other duties which are not school related to children welfare (Twomey 38). Their grievances extended beyond the class, there was the other issue the time in that the time in which the Chicago teachers where spending in school exceeded the set time. There was also the issue of school days Chicago had the least school days in the entire country. This made the teachers perform dismally. The teachers also believe din the fact they were concerned in shutting down of some schools. They were also concerned on the student welfare in terms of security. They were concerned about the environment that the child was being exposed to drugs. In summary, the teachers where opposed to the new proposal about the educational, in which the Chicago public school was to carry an experiment before implementing it. The parents and the teachers rejected the Chicago Public School failed reforms. Since the new schools where ranked lower, this is to say that they were ranked level three. They argued that this Chicago Public School reforms had killed the Chicago child in a sense that they have been demoralized and there literacy level compromised. The teachers argued that plan had converted the children into profit making activities (Loveless 24). The Chicago Public School had affected the teachers’ productivity; they had seen their fellow teachers facing sucking and taking blames that were wrongly directed to them. They were to correct the wrong systems designed and implemented by the Chicago Public School board and they were there to show the public that the system was a failure. They had seen the education qualities dwindle and before it got worst they resorted in showing their grievances by matching to the street. This led to the community and the teachers to meet to counter and organize efforts to save the education sector. The teachers felt the only way to address the issues ways through the strike. They organized and had the backing of the community organization and the backing of the court. The National Debate Opinion polls carried out showed that the majority of the general public was behind the striking teachers. They argued that the system had resulted to the drop in the level of education. Majority of the public where of the contrary opinion that schools where filled with poor teachers. They blamed the system for the failure and the fall in the stands in education in the public school. They were also opposed to the issue of the boards opinion of layoffs. This according to the general public is that this may only create a gap in the teacher student ratio. Lay off will only result off the dwindling levels of education (Jentz and Schneirov 26). The other issue was the matter of firing the union was not opposed to teachers being fired. The firing of teachers was to be done in according to the law and if only the teacher has failed in her or his duties. The public was confident with the union and did not think it hinders or prevent teaches from facing the axe. The public felt that it was just statements by the board to shift blame as far as the quality of education is concerned. The public was also in the opinion that teachers should have tenure to ensure they are secure and thus provide quality in terms of services (Walsh 100). They were in the contrary opinion that the solution to the problem was to close the public school. Closure the schools will result to most of the students missing out on the value of education. This results some social issues such as drug abuse and theft. The issue led to the public supporting the teachers in the strike. They were protecting their children from missing out in education and quality one for that matter. The public also was opposed to the fact that the firing of young teaches since they were of the opinion that the young teachers produced high outcomes due to their fresh minds. The firing of the youthful teachers will affect the community since it will in turn cause unemployment (Loveless 54). This may also create a crisis. They also where in the opposed to the reduction of school hours. They cited it to be the reason to the poor performance. This hindered the students’ time to understand what has been taught. The students hence get less time to revise. Due to few hours teachers will tend to hurry up to finish the syllabus with the short time that is available. The blame then is shifted to the teachers for underperforming of which is not the case. The general public view was that the implementation of the proposal was to blame. The debate on the teachers strike where just reactions of which the majority was reading in the same book as the teachers. They had witnessed the effect the new experiment had caused and where hence supporting the strike organized by the Chicago teachers and the supportive community. The success of the union was as result of the coordination by all sectors, the parents offered to sacrifice the time of their kids in school to ensure that the standards set for the better of their children. The other sector that supported the strike was the community organizations who were opposed to the ideas of the proposal. They found it the cause of many youths falling into drugs and violent activity to the system which abolished the turnaround schools and reduced the time at which the students stay in school. They were also concern about the layoff which was to be a social problem. The court gave the union the go ahead which made the strike a success (Twomey 65). The grievances by the teachers where just and action had to be taken before matters get worse. The teachers strike was an indication of how labor unions deal with conflicts affecting their members and the general public. The strike made the matter a national problem which prompted for action to be taken the strike had affected over 350000 students. The strike lasted for seven days; the one week period had affected a lot. This prompted the authority to negotiate a way forward; they engaged the d negotiations that resulted to the union conveying meetings after meeting. After assurance by the authority, the union decided to vote on either to end the one week strike or not of which they voted on ending the strike. The strike had brought into attention the need to transform the educational sector. Works Cited Cooper, Bruce., Cibulka, James. and Fusarelli, Lance. Handbook of Education Politics and Policy. New York: Routledge, 2008. Jentz, John and Schneirov, Richard. Chicago in the Age of Capital: Class, Politics, and Democracy during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2012. Loveless, Tom. Conflicting Missions: Teachers Unions and Educational Reform. New York: Brookings Institution Press, 2000. Twomey, David. Labor and Employment Law: Text and Cases. Chicago: Cengage Learning, 2009. Walsh, Deborah. Labor of Love: One Chicago Teacher's Experience. New York: iUniverse, 2000. Read More