Ford Fallacies

While this doesn't describe stories directly from the school or the classroom, the topic couldn't be more relevant to the classroom and what happens there each day. The topic is teacher "unions." First, I put "unions" in quotes because teacher associations are not traditional unions. Certainly, they have important aspects of unionization, such as negotiating contracts and advocating for members rights. But I've never heard the American Medical Association called the doctors' "union."

On my way to school the other day, I first heard a commentator on radio linking teacher associations to traditional unions. In fact, those who oppose the voice of teachers in public education have a difficult time even writing the word "association." It is always the "teachers' union." Then, on another station, I listened to a rant about the announced layoffs (30,000) at Ford and how the unions had ruined the company. First, the speaker mentioned that workers at Ford were making 64 dollars an hour. Perhaps some are--after forty years of work. But, even so, not all workers make that, or even the average wage at a company. Interesting though how we so rarely hear about the "outrageous" salary of managers, CEOs and their stock options. Didn't those people in those positions have actually more influence on the company's health and direction than any 64 dollar an hour worker?

The kicker though was that it all came down to the union's fault that 30,000 Ford workers were headed toward layoff. I just don't see how it was the union that made decisions about what automobiles to manufacture and how to price them. In fact, it is closer to the truth that Ford was simply building gas-guzzling behemoths that fewer and fewer people wanted to buy. Those were not union decisions.

A similar campaign is in operation against teachers and the teacher "unions." Unions seem to be at fault for the poor performance of many of our public schools. Tenure, they say. Can't fire poor teachers, they say. But, those things are simply not true. Nevermind that decisions like the resources committed to "No Child Left Behind," standardized testing, and the gap of achievement between ethnic and cultural groups are no doing of the Associations. The fact is that an increasing amount of what the education establishment says that parents and students want are as outdated as the Ford gas-guzzling behemoths. The teacher associations are actively engaged in trying to overcome the inertia of a system that doesn't know what it means to be an educated person, only that it has something to do with getting good test scores.

Things Fall Apart

It's 7:30 and no bells (more like mechanical beeps, but . . .). 7:40 and announcement that class has begun and the bells are not ringing. The bells begin working by third period, but still almost half of the class is tardy, some as much as twenty minutes. Outside the classroom today, I've entered the halls five or six times to ask/tell students to move out of the halls and to be quiet while classes are in session. A cell phone rings in class. A fight erupts. Students flee the building for lunch.

When events begin to converge daily into a fog of chaos, it is a symptom of an organization adrift. It is an interesting experience to simply sit back and watch the ebb and flow of organization and cooperation with disorganization and conflict. It certainly is a part of any organization and human relationships. But, when does it become disfunctional? What is it, I wonder, that makes an organization perform? What is it that makes an organization underperform? And, for that matter, what the heck does it mean for a school to perform?

It is perhaps too easy to cloak problems and answers in a swirl of half understood half truths. Leadership. Ok, what does that mean exactly? What is a "leader" doing from day to day, moment to moment that contributes. Efficiency? What is that? Of course, it depends on what is measured. If efficiency is good CSAP scores, I can provide efficiency, but forget the education. Competition. Should some schools, many schools, be allowed to go out of business. That is certainly the market model.

But, finally, upon reflection here, what is it, exactly, that holds a school together. What glue do we need, or, what already glued connections have we lost, to make sure that things don't fall apart?