Compton School Fight
The parents of the city of Compton realize what many of us have understood for so long – teachers' unions sabotage the futures of children who unfortunately have no choice in where they receive their education. Teachers' unions would rather have parents believe that a school’s failure is completely inadvertent, and more times than not, a lack of resources and parental involvement are the chief conspirators in collusion to derail children from the education they truly deserve.
I’m amazed that our state's finest teachers haven’t thought of a way to fix those problems. Better still, it is surprising that unions are fighting the very group of people who ultimately pay their salaries…parents. Teachers' unions often boast themselves as stalwart allies of parents in a constant battle with conservative lawmakers who desperately want to “defund” public schools. Every effort to establish some sort of connection between student performance and teacher evaluation is met with hostility. Teachers unions would like us to believe that there are so many mitigating circumstances affecting student performance that it totally absolves them from being looked at with a magnifying glass. Truthfully, teachers' unions are quite comfortable staying in that gray area, because once those clouds of gray start to dissolve, they know parents like the ones in Compton can see the sun in the horizon and demand a better education for their child.
Failing public schools serve as a catalyst for the unemployment and desolate conditions that often become a mainstay in many inner city environments, and it will remain that way because the teachers' unions are using the backs of inner city children and families as political collateral. Parents have grown weary of sending their children to school and seeing the same results with the same excuses regurgitated over and over again. California’s parent trigger law empowers parents to transform a failing public school into a charter school, replace staff and provide new leadership, or replace the current principal with a qualified and results proven innovator. What’s happening in Compton is an epic battle for the future of our children. Our children don’t owe anything to unions; their debt was paid by those who paved the way for them to have access to a brighter future.
This is clearly a time for California where efficiency must know no exemptions.
If teachers' unions and liberals really believe in the people, then why is there such a prolific battle to stop parents from having the right to send their children to the school that is best able to foster their natural abilities and provide them with the tools to facilitate their success? Because it is never really about the students for the lot of teachers' unions, it is about protecting the system and their own interests. Many are afraid to say it, but teaching has become a fall-back profession; it isn’t the profession which many go into with that sense of community, given that liberals and teachers' unions often esteem their community as the number one reason for going into teaching. Our schools are failing miserably, in fact, to the point where teachers are scarce and the state has to incentivize a career option where the true enticement is supposed to be the potential to impact a life.
Putting the community first is a mindset that liberals have laid claim to. Now is the time to see if they can defend that territory or show that they’ve been too inundated with public union-backed messages to understand why they do what it is they do. The whole state of California is closely watching the developments in Compton to see who will win the battle to save these failing schools – the parents or the unions.
You can reach Micah at mgrant@cagop.org
I’m amazed that our state's finest teachers haven’t thought of a way to fix those problems. Better still, it is surprising that unions are fighting the very group of people who ultimately pay their salaries…parents. Teachers' unions often boast themselves as stalwart allies of parents in a constant battle with conservative lawmakers who desperately want to “defund” public schools. Every effort to establish some sort of connection between student performance and teacher evaluation is met with hostility. Teachers unions would like us to believe that there are so many mitigating circumstances affecting student performance that it totally absolves them from being looked at with a magnifying glass. Truthfully, teachers' unions are quite comfortable staying in that gray area, because once those clouds of gray start to dissolve, they know parents like the ones in Compton can see the sun in the horizon and demand a better education for their child.
Failing public schools serve as a catalyst for the unemployment and desolate conditions that often become a mainstay in many inner city environments, and it will remain that way because the teachers' unions are using the backs of inner city children and families as political collateral. Parents have grown weary of sending their children to school and seeing the same results with the same excuses regurgitated over and over again. California’s parent trigger law empowers parents to transform a failing public school into a charter school, replace staff and provide new leadership, or replace the current principal with a qualified and results proven innovator. What’s happening in Compton is an epic battle for the future of our children. Our children don’t owe anything to unions; their debt was paid by those who paved the way for them to have access to a brighter future.
This is clearly a time for California where efficiency must know no exemptions.
If teachers' unions and liberals really believe in the people, then why is there such a prolific battle to stop parents from having the right to send their children to the school that is best able to foster their natural abilities and provide them with the tools to facilitate their success? Because it is never really about the students for the lot of teachers' unions, it is about protecting the system and their own interests. Many are afraid to say it, but teaching has become a fall-back profession; it isn’t the profession which many go into with that sense of community, given that liberals and teachers' unions often esteem their community as the number one reason for going into teaching. Our schools are failing miserably, in fact, to the point where teachers are scarce and the state has to incentivize a career option where the true enticement is supposed to be the potential to impact a life.
Putting the community first is a mindset that liberals have laid claim to. Now is the time to see if they can defend that territory or show that they’ve been too inundated with public union-backed messages to understand why they do what it is they do. The whole state of California is closely watching the developments in Compton to see who will win the battle to save these failing schools – the parents or the unions.
You can reach Micah at mgrant@cagop.org
posted by Micah Grant at
12:14 PM
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