Tapping my inner BIG MEAN GIRL

As I was sitting in a professional teaching seminar this morning, one of the presenters asked us to reflect for a moment on why we became teachers in the first place. His ultimate point was this: We didn't go into teaching to be a glorified presenter (which we are, by his account, if we are only concerned with what we teach), but rather to help all students learn (thereby making the learner outcomes the most important measurement of us as teachers).

And I suppose on many levels, what he says it true, and speaks a great deal about those of us in the great teaching profession. I don't know a single teacher who would say that the learning of their students pales in comparison to their delivery of an articulate lecture or the sheer genius of their lesson planning. By and large, we are there for the students.

But who, I wondered, is truly there for us?

I mean, seriously. Everywhere I turn it seems that teachers are reviled, held up for public scorn as filthy bloodsuckers more concerned with financing their responsibility-free summer escapades than in educating America's youth. We educators -- not TV violence, not drugs, not absentee parents -- are the most to blame for the perceived "failings" of our youth and our society as a whole. How dare we ask for more than our due (which, according to the many fanatics who feel compelled to spew their hate at the bottom of online newspaper articles, is not much. We should not even dream of asking to make a wage that reflects our own educational attainment, to be given salary increases that are commiserate with our experience in the field, let alone receive benefits that allow us to receive medical care or retire)! Every time I read an online newspaper article about education, I pause at the bottom, wondering if I really need to read the comments down below. And while I hope that the hate mongers who write negative comments about how overpaid, underworked, and greedy teachers are single-handedly destroying public education won't appear, I am always disappointed. And once the written mud slinging ensues, I can't stop reading. I wade through the arguments that I am what is wrong with public education. My benefits cost too much, my salary is extreme, my salary is much too high, "my" test scores are much too low. And those brave souls who dared to write that about how teachers are NOT was is wrong with education today--I have seen their cases drawn, quartered, tarred, feathers, and otherwise eviscerated for defending the job teachers do.

And while public teachers are often targeted as one of the reasons why public education doesn't work, there is one other entity that seems to inspire an even deeper hatred. An organization that is, in the minds of these armchair "soap-boxers," unequivocally responsible for the spiraling demise of education.

Unfortunately, it is this abhorrent evil that I have embraced as the answer to my question above: who is truly there for us that draws even more hate speech than being a member of the teaching profession (and while it is not technically a four-letter word, mothers, you may need to prepare yourselves to shelter the ears and eyes of the innocent and, supposedly, under-educated children who might be reading this garbage over your shoulder [that is assuming, of course, that their teachers actually did their jobs and got off their spongy butts].

The union.

That's right. Not only am I a dues-paying, sustenance-sucking, card-carrying member, I also work tirelessly on behalf of the organization (but more accurately, for the teachers it represents). Why, you might ask?

Because I really feel like someone, somewhere ought to be looking out for those who look out for our nation's youth. Because someone needs to stand up for educators and advocate for them to be treated with respect, as professionals, as vital stakeholders in education. Because someone must stand up against the ravenous masses. And that someone might as well be me.

Truth be told, I take great pride in the fact that I am a grievance-filing, hard-negotiating, rights-defending, contract-toting bad ass. Yeah, that's right. I said bad-ass. "Union Tonya," as some of my friends refer to me when union business crops up, doesn't pull punches, mince words, or bow and scrape to anyone when the rights and livelihoods of fellow teachers on the line. I guess those years of being known as BIG MEAN GIRL (a nickname bequeathed to me by my brother's 3rd grade YMCA basketball teammate after spending a scrimmage being guarded by an older, taller, scrappier player) were just training for being a teacher advocate.  

The truth is, to do the work of the association is to take the hate-speech and disrespect that is so often directed at teachers and place it on broader, stronger shoulders. And while teachers may be one of the public's most wanted, there is no doubt the teachers' unions are public enemy number one. Want proof? Take this comment (just one of many, mind you) posted in response to a recent oregonlive.com article about the ill-conceived Race To The Top (RTTT) educational grants:

The lecherous teachers union, hugely supported by members, could care less about many things except maintaining exorbitant salaries and benefits. When they scream for more money, "It's for the children, blah, blah, blah...", it's only to provide themselves additional compensation.

Let's talk about this "exorbitant" salary that I make as a "worthless" school teacher. I will have been teaching for ten years this fall (and have the grey hairs to prove it) and hold both a bachelors and a masters degree (and not to toot my own horn, but I have YET to receive anything less than an A in any of these courses). I'd like to think that I am one sharp cookie and a darn fine educator, though according to the presentation I was at today, I'm not sure I have the conclusive evidence to claim that my students "actually" learn what I "teach."


Then I compare myself with my husband. He's a darn smart one too. He's working (and almost done) with his masters in business administration and has been working in his field of software programming for the past six years. And what he makes now, as a relative newbie in the field, is more than the most experienced, most educated faculty member in my school district will ever hope to make...over $15,000 more per year. And don't get me started on the fringe benefits (like 401K matching, stock options, annual bonuses, vacation time, and incentives). It makes my PERS contributions, my two personal leave days, and my four credits of partial tuition reimbursement look like what they really are--the scraps that those who are passionate about teaching, students, and learning are willing to accept for the greater good.

Educators are not in the profession to "harm" students, to suck the teat of government, to fail to do their absolute best for our society. I couldn't do the work of the association if I felt otherwise. As such, I am unwilling to see these teachers go backward in terms of pay and compensation (offering teachers a 0% raise when the consumer price index creeps ever upward and insurance rates--which we pay a portion of out of our pockets already--are going up 26% next year). I am unwilling to just sit by and let these soldiers of our democracy suffer the blows of biased evaluations, inappropriate discipline, and malicious complaints and hearsay. I am unwilling to let them fight the good fight alone, without an advocate in their corner to make sure that their rights are afforded and respected. That's why I belong to and work for the union (and for my fellow teachers). I think that Clarence Darrow says it quite well:

With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than the other association of men.

My respected colleague and personal sounding board, Dusty Humphrey, says this and more well about the role of teachers, of teachers' unions, and what we (the St. Helens Education Association) are fighting for in our school district. Consider the following reading your homework assignment, class: http://pleadingforsanity.blogspot.com/2010/04/caucus-caucus-cau-cus.html.

If I (and the association) don't fight for them, who will? The modern-day muckrakers who feel the need to smear their teacher hate (check out http://teachersunionexposed.com/ and prepare to be offended)? The school districts, who seem, at times, more concerned with maintaining ending-fund balances and boosting state assessment scores than fighting for a quality public education? The politicians who are elected on a pro-education platform and then institute unfunded mandates, develop copious testing that do little to nothing to improve instruction, and implement competitive grant programs (such as Race to the Top) to "improve" the quality of education we offer to students?

So I go back to the question that was posed today in my conference: Why did I become a teacher? Because I care about kids. Why did I become a union rep/bargainer/president? Because I care (deeply, whole-heartedly, passionately) about those who care about kids. Because I believe that what they take home in salary and benefits can never truly compensate them for what they actually "make."