Contracts!!!
and Other Education News. . .
Great news for MMSD
employees!!! The only MMSD contract not
yet approved is the AFSCME 60 contract which employees are voting on this
weekend. It is anticipated to be
approved by the members and then approved by the School Board next week.
These contracts are so
important, not only for MMSD employees, but also for the future of public
education in Wisconsin. The contracts give employees in the second
largest school district in Wisconsin
a voice to speak out about the continuing efforts to privatize our state's
schools.
They give us a voice to
continue to speak out against the "reforms" that harm our
students. "Reforms" that often
are a product of profiteer's, not educator's, efforts to improve educational
opportunities for all students.
They give us a voice to fight to maintain and protect the professional standards that we have worked so hard to achieve. Standards that are under attack by "reformers" who want to radically change the way that we teach and the ways that our efforts are evaluated.
http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/cali/setting_the_record_straight_on_hield_yield_strategies.pdf
Here's an interesting site
with lots of links to articles and editorials.
"Any
Group of 1st Graders Could Solve This Problem". . .
As we continue to see
little progress made towards resolving the issues around the government
shutdown, the frustration builds among people from all sides and
ideologies. While the blame is directed
at different players in the conflict based on political ideology, one common
thought that is voiced is that this is a problem that should be easily
resolved. Whether that means that one
side completely capitulates, or that some compromise is reached, many Americans
feel that the shutdown is a symptom of either the incompetence, or the
dysfunctional nature of our national government.
One thread of conversation
that I recently followed equated the behavior of our president and members of
congress to that of children involved in a simple dispute. The end result of this conversation was
general agreement that issues around the ACA and the funding of our nation's
government were so simple to solve that "Any group of 1st graders"
could end the stalemate. This attitude
about such an important problem isn't uncommon in a nation that so often prides
itself on its use of "common sense".
Yet, in many ways it is
our reliance on "common sense" and the American public's
unwillingness to recognize the complex nature of the problems that we face that
gets us into these situations. As a
whole, we are too easily swayed by the idea that a simple direct approach can
eliminate significant challenges and we look to politicians who voice simple
solutions. Here in Wisconsin we fell victim to this type of
campaigning in 2010 when Scott Walker unveiled his "Brown Bag
Movement" with a simple message that resonated with many voters. We saw this simplistic approach validated
when he stuck with his "plan" throughout the recall race while Tom
Barrett was criticized for talking about bringing people together to discuss
the complex issues.
"Common sense"
is a dangerous concept simply because "common sense" is so uncommon
and so dependent on one's ideological viewpoints. What is "common sense" to one
person, is controversial or illogical to another. There are also analogies that appear to make
perfect "common sense", but really are comparing apples to
oranges. The idea that our government's
budget is directly analogous to a family budget is one of these things.
Another way that
"common sense" fails on a societal level is that, while most of us
can agree on generalities, the devil truly is in the details when it comes to
applying the values and beliefs that many of us hold so dear. Most Americans can agree that they want
people to have freedom, that they want people to be able to survive independent
of governmental support, and that all people should have equal opportunity to
succeed. These common beliefs make it
appear that many of our problems could be easily resolved, after all, if pretty
much everyone supports an idea, why can't our system make it happen. How we achieve these things is where we
encounter difficulties. For example,
does the belief that everyone should have a right to personal safety mean that
everyone should be able to walk around armed, or does it mean that we empower
our government to protect us?
"Common sense"
can only be applied when we have the knowledge and/or experience to base our
opinions on. "Common sense"
without some knowledge is of little substantive value. We are vulnerable to a lack of information,
or misrepresentation of the realities that we offer our ideas on. By relying on either simple "common
sense" or on biased sources of information to base our opinions on, we
simply allow others to control our thinking and become pawns in a game that
others will win.
Another significant
problem with applying "common sense" to our societal conflicts, is
that there are those who stand to gain power or wealth by continuing or
escalating quarrels. They may use the
language of "common sense", but don't apply the principles that make
positive resolutions happen. This is
where the analogy of 1st graders really breaks down. In my experience, most children involved in
playground disputes are involved in conflicts that center around immediate
personal needs. They don't have long
range plans to disrupt recess, and aren't setting the stage for future
encounters. Many of the social, economic
and political battles we are engaged in have long histories and are ongoing
into the foreseeable future. This makes
conflict resolution much more difficult to achieve.
The end result is that our
efforts to instill some "common sense" into the process fail, and the
citizens of our nation end up divided along ideological, social and economic
lines. We see different standards
applied to participants in events based on our beliefs. The "Wisconsin
14" are viewed as obstructionists and cowards by some, who then claim
that House Republicans are participating
in a noble struggle against tyranny. A
local radio show host talks about how the ACA will raise her insurance rates
over $250 which is an amount that is "enough to make someone sell their
house". Yet, that same host has
continued to tout the retirement contributions required by public employees
under Act 10 (about triple the increases in her insurance rates for my
household) as insignificant, minor and much needed reform.
The full impacts of the
conflict in Washington
remain to be seen. Yet, it is difficult
to imagine that there won't be significant consequences for our nation, both
short and long term.
We aren't seeing the
struggles around "common sense" reforms limited to those involving
the current fiscal battle. The same
language and ideals are used in other areas as well.
However, the current
conflicts are resolved, the reality is that they are symptoms of a larger, even
more significant problem. Until the
American people decide to truly become informed and to hold our elected
officials accountable for resolving problems, not creating them, we will simply
move from one crisis to another. The end
result of the crises will be a continuing deterioration of the rights,
privileges and standard of living for a majority of the citizens of our nation.
Wisconsin
Politics. . .
As we move towards the
2014 elections things are heating up in Wisconsin. Over the next several months the Democrats
will determine who will oppose Governor Walker in a crucial election. While it is still early in the process, I
still believe that it is important that there is a primary race for the
Democrat's ticket. That would allow for
the people of Wisconsin
to see where the candidates stand on issues that are of great importance to
us.
Along the way, we must
also work to counter the propaganda that will be coming from the Republican
Party.
There is a significant
amount of information that voters need to know before they vote next year.
The race for governor
won't be the only important one on the next ballot.
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