Workers get Lay-offs and Pay Freezes, Banks make Billions

Today the NYC DOE and the UFT (our sellout union) announced a two year wage freeze for all teachers. This could really be almost 3 years since our contract expired 7 months ago. This agreement will stop any lay-offs of teachers and guidance counselors. This does not mean schools are unaffected as aides and other DC37 workers have already lost 500 positions earlier this year, and there are more to come. Other city workers are facing lay-offs of thousands of positions, especially as the courts have ruled that the city cannot back out of contractual obligations that were negotiated.

So the UFT was given the choice of lay-offs or a salary freeze. These are the choices as long as we let the ruling class pose the question. But let’s take a step back for a minute. What industry is at the heart of New York? What industry depends on the services of New York to continue to provide safety for its workers; healthcare for its workers; education for the children of its workers? Well we know the answer to this – Big Banks! That’s right the same people that caused this financial crisis. The same ones that have received hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in bailouts. The same ones that are once again turning record profits of tens of billions of dollars each quarter!

How are these things connected? Well, here’s a couple of interesting facts: NYC has debt in the form of bonds. These bonds are bought mostly by big finance. Paying this debt will cost NYC $2.469 billion in financial year 2011. (http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/PDFs/2011/pbr_omb_2011.pdf)

NYC also has a projected deficit for financial year 2011. That deficit was projected to $1.191 billion dollars. (http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/bud/Summary_budget_report.shtm)

So let’s do the math….If the city were to suspend its debt service for this year they would not only cover this year’s deficit but make a huge dent in the 2012 projected deficit. Yet, no one talks about this option.

THIS IS CAPITALISM. Profits come before people.

The Gulf oil spill and education. What's the connection?

What does the BP leak in the Gulf of Mexico have to do with the future of education? Bear with me and I’ll try to work through this.

The Obama administration has been taking a beating for “not acting fast enough.” This is true, but doesn’t really explain the relationship between the U.S. government and “Big Oil”. Oil drilling is no longer three guys on the Plains looking for gushers. It is a highly technological, scientific endeavor. This “gusher” is at the bottom of a column of water as deep as the Grand Canyon. To monitor these wells, and to fix any problems are major undertakings and require a well developed technical/engineering know-how. This is something that the U.S. government has been more than happy to allow the oil companies to fund and basically have let the oil companies self-monitor. This has become the practice over many years and continued by the current administration.

The problem for anyone who takes the time to think about this is that oil companies are driven by the basic DNA of capitalism – MAXIMIZE PROFIT. It is becoming clear that BP knew about problems with this rig, but did not act on them. They chose ways of dealing with issues that were “faster” (i.e. cost less money) rather than safer. It is clear that the “fail-safe” devices were not correctly tested in order to save time.

The role of government in all of this? To help these companies make those profits (BTW – BP profits before this disaster? $45 million/day). Politicians don’t get to run by taking on big business. In this system government protects profit!

So what does this have to do with education? Our union has given up on any form of mass movement. Our leadership has had only one plan of action – rely on these same politicians. What we get is a system of education “reform” that is bad for both teachers and students. So who is it good for? BIG BUSINESS!

In 2008 the AFT invited Arne Duncan to speak at their national convention in Chicago. Let’s look at his history there and his actions as Sec. of Educations. He destroyed almost all of the protections that teachers had won through hard fought battles. At the same time he instituted a program of aligning high schools with the military. Over two dozen schools have programs where students required to participate in JROTC programs. One of the new plans being floated by the U.S. Dept of Ed. Is to set up 2 levels high schools – some 2 year schools leading to “technical diplomas” and some 4 year schools leading to academic diplomas and college. This would provide a guarantee to businesses about the level of achievement of high school graduates and college students, while at the same time providing even more workers whose choices are severely limited and who are more likely to become cannon fodder in future wars.

Big Oil, or Education it’s all about maximizing profits for big business.

Heterogeneity vs Tracking - Is the pendulum swinging back?

On Sunday Aug. 30th, the New York Daily News published as its lead Op-Ed piece a "critique" of heterogeneous class and a call for a return to tracking of students. In this article Anna Penny, a teacher for all of 3-and-a-half years decries her inability to motivate students in a 12th grade Literature elective. What is the cause? Could it be a society that does not value reading? Could it be class sizes of 30-34 students? Could it be a system that throws new teachers into a class with little or no support?(her principal taught for all of 2-1/2 years before getting his job through the "mis"-Leadership Academy) NO! It is the fact that she had a heterogeneous group of students with a wide range of reading skills.

It is not that I am not sympathetic to Ms. Penny's ordeal. I have taught Chemistry and Physics to heterogeneous groups of students for many years. Believe me, I KNOW what it is like to have students who are ill-prepared and unmotivated. The thing is, there is a history to heterogeneous grouping that is very important to remember. The tracking systems that were being used in the past were inherently racist. Statistics showed that many more black and latino students were being kept out of college-prep and honors tracks than white students. The placement of student was based on the whim of teachers, guidance counselors and administrators or the results of tests that were culturally biased.

I remember my elementary school P.S. 165 in Manhattan. All of the classes were numbered: 5-1, 5-2, 5-3 etc. Everyone knew who the "smart" class was. And guess which class got the extras, like trips or the most experienced and motivated teachers- It wasn't 5-10. So for many years progressive educators, students and families fought to bring and end to tracking. We fought to allow all students the opportunity to take courses that would prepare and allow them to go to college. We fought for heterogeneous classes.

Are heterogeneous classes a panacea? No. They are more work for teachers. It is always easier to teach a more homogeneous group of students especially if they are motivated. But we should not stop heterogeneity because it is hard. We need to fight for ways to make us more effective teachers. We have to fight for the resources that our students really need. So if you have a 12th grade student with a 2nd grade reading level in an elective lit. class (as Ms. Penny claims) the struggle should be for the literacy support that this student obviously needs. Did her school have a pullout literacy program? If not, why not? Was this a full class of 34 students? Why aren't more teachers, parents and students fighting for smaller classes so that we can give all of our students the attention they deserve. For too long we have accepted it when the UFT leadership says that we can't negotiate for smaller classes in the contract. OF COURSE WE CAN! We just can't use it as trade-off to get higher wages.

I'll end with some questions that I hope you respond to.
Why did the NY Daily News give such primo space to this article?
How does this tie in with Obama's "Race to the Top" call for more testing and an end to tenure?
How do we motivate students, parents and teachers to get involved in these struggles?