Up until Tuesday, Chicago teachers left the classroom and were striking to improve education quality. The strike is one of the more dramatic chapters in the demand for education reform.
It is no secret that American education is no longer the world-dominating powerhouse it once was during the Cold War. Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, America dominated the fields of math and science, and the payoffs were great. President Kennedy challenged us to put a man on the moon by the end of the ‘60s, and to this day the moonwalk is considered one of the world’s greatest accomplishments.
The space program also brought about many technologies that we take for granted today, such as nylon and Tang, largely due to the push for math and science education. Imagine what could happen if there was a similar educational push today.
Sadly, in recent decades, American education has fallen behind other nations and, to top it all off, teachers and students feel that the education system is failing. Budget cuts are forcing many school districts to make hard choices, often at the expense of the students. The teachers in Chicago were not simply protesting for better pay. They wanted the schools to hire their own teachers and for more state and federal money to go to the classrooms and benefit the students.
During the seven days of the strike, students were out of the classroom. Teachers, parents and politicians all agreed on one thing: that the students suffered by not being in the classroom. According to the New York Times, some parents took their kids to work because they had nowhere else to go. Other parents took their kids to picket right alongside the teachers.
Wyoming is a long way geographically and politically from Chicago. The teachers were for the most part urban inner-city teachers. Wyoming is fortunate. We have some of the best-paid teachers in the nation and many counties have relatively new schools. However, some of the frustrations felt in the windy city can be felt in, what the University of Wyoming Memes for Great Success calls the “original windy city.” Professors at UW also want pay raises and to make sure that the education quality is on par with the rest of the nation and the world.
Many speculate that the teacher strike and the after effects will play a key component in the November presidential election. Whatever the politics involved, the fight to improve education will continue, no matter who is elected.
