Start Again

 While I continue on the odyssey that is the 2022-23 school year here in Oakland, California, teachers in Ohio are walking the picket lines. The Columbus Education Association says, “This strike is about our students who deserve a commitment to modern schools with heating and air conditioning, smaller class sizes, and a well-rounded curriculum that includes art, music and P.E."  

The district's statement insists, “We offered a generous compensation package for teachers and provisions that would have a positive impact on classrooms." 

Somewhere in there is what Strother Martin might refer to as "a failure to communicate." Which is about the time when people who have access to a keyboard, like myself, begin to toss around opinions and platitudes about when they were children. Retired teachers share war stories. Parents complain about how this kind of disruption will affect their kids. And their ten fifteen Pilates class. Then there's the rank and file union members who are looking for a little relief. Some will tell you that it's the paycheck, and how their salary doesn't cover the cost of living in a metropolitan area, or it will never include the money the spend out of pocket for the supplies their students need. The supplies the district is unable to provide because they are, once again, in a period of budget cuts to meet the new reality of making public education a profit center. 

And at the end of the day, when both sides push away from the bargaining table, they can be happy that they are not in Florida. In the Sunshine State, the "governor" is rejecting dictionaries for use in classrooms in his battle to eliminate "wokeness." This is the same guy who feels that teaching credential requirements are "too rigid," and he would like to have military veterans who served four years and have an honorable or medical discharge from the armed services be plugged right into the educational system. Tough for me to argue, since I came into the business of education thanks to an intern program. Which is one of my chief professional regrets. I would much rather have had the opportunity to be fully trained before stepping in front of a group of kids the first time. Alone.

Because as much as we like to say "it takes a village," and it does, it takes a certain set of strengths to get up there and teach. Maybe that comes from being battle tested. Maybe that comes from being properly compensated. Maybe that comes from not feeling overwhelmed by all those fresh faces and all that knowledge that needs to find its way into their heads. It's not a job. It's an adventure that has its challenges and stresses and it would be great to feel the support of one's community while you were attempting to prepare the next generation to take over for us. 

I really wish it wasn't so hard to convince everyone of that.