Eroding Teacher Seniority Will Bust Unions

Same Stuff, Different Day

The right-wing debate against public employees has shifted and now it is teachers that are being targeted on all levels. From the privatization of education through charter schools, to misguided movies like "Waiting for Superman." Educators have become the new enemy, responsible for everything from the massive disobedience and lack of discipline of students to the failure of the public education system in this country.

In poor and working class communities the problems of poverty, parental neglect (often due to financial necessity), and the lack of motivation of the students themselves are some of the reasons for this systemic breakdown. But as with other union targets before them, all logic is being tossed aside, replaced with the easy out of a new dog to kick.

Even Obama who is now waxing populist in deference to the Occupy Movement, has raised  and praised the idea of "replacement teachers" as a cure-all for the ills of the education system. This is presented as a simple formula in which the "best" teachers will be rewarded while those who no longer have "passion" and have outlived their usefulness, will be let go. Ending teacher tenure is their new rallying cry.

In reality, terminating the seniority system will destroy the teacher's unions and erode job security, benefits and pensions for the whole profession. It serves as a crack in a door that was previously shut tight, a perfect way to break in and destroy a highly organized, predominantly female, group of professionals. Doing away with seniority means that all ongoing employment decisions will be subjective and open to the ebbs and flows of bias and personal prejudice. Older people will be discarded for their "lack of energy." Teachers who take too much initiative will be replaced for their lack of obsequious and deferential behavior. Unpopular minority group status (LGBTs, blacks, latinos, etc.) will be used as factors in decision making. The list goes on and on but the end result is that people will lose their livelihoods at the whim of those in power.

The teachers who survive this reorganization will be young and full of vigor. But the burn-out rate is high in teaching and, given four or five years in the classrooms, especially those of inner city schools, even the hardiest young, bright-eyed idealist will lose some of her enthusiasm and spark. And so teaching will become a stint kind of job, much like service in the military.

Indiana is now poised to join Southern states in passing a "right-to-work" bill (Brave New World Speak for massive anti-union legislation), the tenured teacher is poised to be a relic of the past.

All union jobs and protections will go the way of the dinosaur if we end seniority protections for some workers. We must stand with our educators in ensuring that they don't have an ax hanging over their heads as they try to perform an already difficult job.

Old Worker & Young Boss--Capitalist Anomaly

The Industrial Revolution Was
Revolting in Many Ways

Many cultures respect and revere the elderly. From Native American tribal groups, to the Hmong, the Aka and the other hill tribes of Southeast Asia, natural human communities reserve a special place for those who have given their time, their lives to the work of the society.

In the corporate world the basic equation of learning and life experience is turned on its head. Youth is sought after and prized while age is feared and despised. This may stem from denial and fear of mortality, but, whatever the cause, this reality plays out in a tremendously inhumane fashion.

Just as the loss of decent paying jobs with union protections and benefits affects us all, this dismissal of the elderly should threaten the young as well as the old. It is a waving red flag from a future where every worker is both disposable and interchangeable. The "there are more where you came from" philosophy hurts everyone and that indeterminate future always seems to approach more quickly than any of us want to believe it will.

Due to the fact that the massive generation of baby boomers is now beginning to become old people, we are faced with the prospect of a society that includes a high proportion of members who are "of age." Throw in the unbridled capitalism that has reared its very ugly head of late and you have the makings of workplace disaster. Combined with the slash and burn workings of capitalism we have the odd and unnatural coupling of young bosses and old workers.

Many of us from the baby boom generation will continue working long into our "golden years," not because they love their jobs, but because, from a financial perspective, they have no choice. The boss/worker relationship is a strained, anti-human one under the best of circumstances. When that boss is half your age, the contradictions and unfairness of the system are magnified and rendered more unfair and ridiculous than ever.

For those who have children it is a particularly ironic bind. Older folks are often told what to do by their adult children, but most commonly, this is after a degree of impairment has set in. Workplace interactions between those of different status classifications can range from low-stress and facile to hierarchical and difficult. It all depends on the specific work site and its cultural norms.

But if corporate stratification followed our native instincts and promoted the values of learning and experience, we would take instruction from those among us from those who have had the time to acquire knowledge, our elders. Try to envision a society where leadership ability was proven over time and not awarded for superficial, extraneous factors like youth, beauty, family money, gender and ethnicity. You need to have a good imagination to even begin.

Falling Short in the "Meritocracy"

Which Way Forward?

One of the major myths we grow up with here in the USA is that we live in a meritocracy where brains and hard work are rewarded. The theory is that Americans comprise a homogenized mixture with equal parts this and that and the cream will naturally rise to the top. In other words, George W. Bush earned his spot at Harvard and Chelsea Clinton was the most qualified applicant for her plum position at NBC.

The lie of meritocracy harms people by:
1. Obliterating the reality of socioeconomic class and all other forms of prejudice and discimination.
2. Making tons of folks feel inadequate for their lack of accomplishment.
3. Falsely reassuring the achievers that they are the most intelligent and deserving members of society.

In the capitalist workplace the truth is far more complex. Brains and innate ability comprise part of the story but, in our society, even very smart folks may end up in jail or on the street. The largest component of the ability to function under capitalism is socialization. By that I mean having parents or care-givers who were willing and able to model appropriate behavior. The universal assumption in our culture is that everyone is raised with this kind of exemplary parenting.

Many children, whether from wealth or poverty, are raised with the relatively basic guidelines where good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior punished. But some children, especially if parents are substance abusers or if child rearing is not a priority in their lives, acquire no reliable index of propriety. In these homes whatever action a child initiates will either be followed by a random, totally unpredictable reaction or no reaction at all. There can be know learning of values and norms under these circumstances.

My sister and I were raised in such a home. Being five years her senior, I had the honorary position of her mother in our family. We were pretty much ignored. Our friends envied our lack of supervision as well as the prodigious amount of alcoholic beverages available in our residence. There was usually quite a bit of food in the refrigerator and if we wanted to eat a whole package of Sara Lee brownies washed down with Coca Cola for dinner, that was always an option.

My mother couldn't deal with my curly-kinky hair so she only washed it about once a month. Both my sister and I had the experience of showing up at school without skirts at different times in our early lives. Luckily, we had the wherewithal  to put on tights over our legs.

On the positive side, we became quite adept at navigating through the world because this skill was engendered by necessity at an early age. But later, in the strictly choreographed world of the capitalist workplace, the children of neglect tend to fall down. Since the cultural norms that have been passed to them have come only from superficial observation, not gut-level understanding, the workplace is fraught with hazards. Hierarchy and pecking order are antithetical to those raised without them and, no matter how old I grow to be, I still believe that these are inhuman constructs to begin with.

My dream, as I approach retirement age, is that one day we will create a society big enough to encompass all our differences; our failings as well as accomplishments and hold them, without judgement, as nothing more than what they are: survival strategies. The next step would be to build a culture, expansive and compassionate enough to accept each individual's contribution, their gifts as well as their limitations, with the equanimity of a sane and just society.

Just Stand in the Doorway and Block Up the Hall

Wild Old Women at Bank of America

The title of this post is not only a quick reversal of the famous lines from the Bob Dylan classic, "The Times They are A Changin'" but also a brilliant political strategy naturally and effortlessly utilized by a group calling themselves "Wild Old Women" out of the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. These militant "old ladies" shut down a branch of Bank of America by blocking access with their walkers, oxygen tanks, wheelchairs and slow-moving bodies.

The women ages ranged from 69 to 82 and their issues were the same ones that have brought so many people to the streets of late: rising bank rates, foreclosures, the hardship of living on a fixed income as the cost of living rises.

They didn't need to storm the bank. Like the exiled, overlooked and underestimated elderly everywhere, they simply had to show up and get in the way, thereby demonstrating the perfect technique to protest threatened cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

No legal action was taken against the women. But just think of the possibilities. Arresting old people could prove to be the law's worst nightmare. Between special needs, mobility problems and medication requirements, just imagine the monumental inconvenience of, even temporarily, incarcerating the elderly. And then consider the negative media attention it would engender.

These wild old women have undoubtedly tapped into a fantastic idea to be filed away for future use!

As The Old Year Leaves...

In the year 2010 the careful construction of my life began being dismantled by exterior forces, board by board. The process was painful and disorienting. In the year 2011 I started building a new structure; simpler, more grounded on the earth and much closer to my heart. Now, in the year 2012, I plan to move in and truly make it my home.

I close with a transcendent poem that has always held special meaning for me. It seems particularly relevant now. Sara Teasdale lived from 1884-1933.

May you all keep learning and changing and have a magnificent and meaningful new year!

Leaves

ONE by one, like leaves from a tree,

All my faiths have forsaken me;

But the stars above my head

Burn in white and delicate red, 

And beneath my feet the earth

                           Brings the sturdy grass to birth.

                           I who was content to be

                           But a silken-singing tree,

                           But a rustle of delight

                           In the wistful heart of night--

                           I have lost the leaves that knew

                           Touch of rain and weight of dew.

                           Blinded by a leafy crown

                           I looked neither up nor down--

                           But the little leaves that die

                           Have left me room to see the sky;

                           Now for the first time I know

                           Stars above and earth below.

                             Sara Teasdale

The People of Broken Glass

When I got into a graduate degree program at UC Berkeley in 1988, I found the proposition of attending a prestigious school quite frightening. I had actually written two of the three required recommendation letters myself. My Alma Mater, Ohio State University, was a totally adequate school but certainly didn't have the status and mystique of Cal Berkeley.

Mostly, I was afraid that the range of my experience growing up and being an adult (I was 37 when I got in to grad school) would not mix well with the pedigreed and polished lives of my classmates. UC Berkeley is a very difficult school to attend for folks who need to work for a living, due to the fact that all the major classes are during the day. Luckily, I was living with a supportive partner and able to take out a small loan, so with the financial aspects taken care of all that remained were the psychological ones.

Of course, once I was established at the school, I connected with others who came from backgrounds more similar to mine. We found each other immediately, with that unspoken radar that seems almost instictive.

And I also socialized with folks from very different backgrounds and perspectives. I remember eating lunch with a woman who had gone to an Ivy League school and was working on her second master's degree, preparing to go on for a doctorate. I thought about how I would love to spend my whole life in school and what it would actually cost to do that.

She was a very sweet person. In my experience, people who come from loving families where there needs are met on many levels usually are. They are like the folks in my workplace who tell me I complain too much. She was effusive, warm, fluffy and soft, a bit like sitting across from a gently purring, contented kitten.

My best friend at school, Shari, who I wound up calling "scary Shari" for reasons I won't go into, had a good luck, fend for yourself background more similar to my own. Sitting across the table from her was a bit like dining with a pile of shards of broken glass.

When I tell friends this analogy, they assume I am being negative and tremendously self-deprecating. To which I can respond, "I'm Jewish and working class and we tend to be like that." But I truly believe that most of the earth-moving, gut-wrenching, creative contributions to society are made from the outside, not from sleepy kittens, but from honest, damaged people of broken glass, the ones with the power to reflect back a brutally accurate image of society at every level. You only have to hold us up to the light for all things to become visible!

Happy, Merry and Peaceful whatever you celebrate, even if it's just a day off work!

Bradley Manning's Struggle

Bradley Manning, the Army private charged with leaking documents to Julian Assange for his web site Wiki Leaks, is in the process of pre-trial hearings to determine whether or not his case will proceed to court martial. If that happens the 24 year old could be sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars if those hearings determine he was a traitor releasing information that could compromise the US government.

But to many of us, both straight and gay, Manning along with Assange are heroes. They follow in the whistle-blower tradition of Daniel Ellsberg who has called Bradley Manning a patriot and Julian Assange a hero. 

The conditions under which Manning has been detained have been the subject of worldwide controversy. Extended solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, no access to exercise or any comfort items like pillows or sheets are just bullet points on the list of his inhumane, soul-destroying detention. In part, because of Manning, the world community is reconsidering defining solitary confinement as torture.

Now, Manning's future is on the line and one of the pillars of his defense involve his gay identity. This strategy is to paint him as an "emotionally troubled homosexual of the don't ask, don't tell era." Although much of the leftist media seems to be stumbling over this one, as an open lesbian, I don't find it at all contradictory or politically incorrect.

The truth of our lives as queer folk is that they are more difficult and challenging than the lives of heterosexuals from the gate. We face far greater obstacles when it comes to self-esteem, confidence and interaction in general, whether socially or at work. I am sure that for Manning to reconcile the fact of his otherness in an openly hostile environment like the military, was a soul-wrenching and complicated endeavor. Oppression damages everyone, but it is particularly corrosive to the folks on the receiving end. 

Best of luck Mr. Manning, the thoughts and good will of the many are with you.