The nation’s eyes are on my hometown. Unfortunately, this attention is not due to Chicago’s awesomeness, but rather its inability to do anything ‘quietly.’ I am, of course referring to the Chicago Teacher’s Union’s strike that is now on day 5. I am generally supportive of unions and I also support the right to strike. That being said, there is a real problem with 350,000 students out of school in a city that already has enormous educational challenges (i.e. countering a high dropout rate and getting students up to standard on reading and math). Parents are scrambling to make new arrangements for childcare, no easy task if you are a low income, single mother who is counting on schools being open to care for her kid/s. This blog post is not to condemn one side or the other. I honestly believe that there is blame to go around. Instead, I want to present what appears to be one of the biggest challenges facing the Chicago Teachers Union with regards to public support and sympathy: branding.
The media has been quite successful at vilifying teacher unions. Movies such as Waiting for Superman have presented teachers as lazy, selfish and overpaid, doing everything in their power to get more money while not investing more time into making sure their students do well. Education reform appears to be moving forward, but is being stymied by teachers who are satisfied by the status quo. This is, of course, what the media wants you to believe. Is this true? Of course not! I’ve had the honor of working with some amazing Chicago Public School teachers and I know of the issues that are forefront in this strike. But I know of this due to personal experience. What about those who do not know of teacher’s troubles. Their opinions are influenced mainly by media outlets (I’ll concede that media coverage of the strike has been moderately balanced). But at this point, I believe that the Emanuel administration has a better message. Their message has centered on the student. The mayor’s talking point has always been about getting the students back in school. Karen Lewis speaks of fairness and an acceptable contract. She needs to frame her arguments around the student. This will make the strike more effective because it will cast attention from what teachers are getting (and not getting) and center more on what the students need in order to learn and be successful in school. Further, if the union branded themselves more as pro student as opposed to pro teacher, the vilification of said unions would be nearly impossible. Bottom line, with the strike going on, no one wins. And as for who loses the most, it is most definitely the children of Chicago.
Now I don’t want to be an alarmist. It seems that Emanuel will eventually cave, given majority support for the strike (47% for and 39% opposed as reported by a recent Chicago Sun Times poll). However, the fact that the mayor would even attempt to flex his muscles at the teachers union points to his belief that the brand of the union is damaged. If teachers want to be able to demand their fair contracts without having to worry about strong opposition, they need to make it clear that their demands are good for everyone, but mostly the kids that they are teaching. If the union took a page from Emanuel’s book, and were focused entirely on how their demands will benefit students, support for unions would be near universal. In an educational system that is so broken, every education expert will be needed to fix it. And when it comes to experts, no one is more qualified than the teacher.
~KJSW