I am a teacher. I care about my students and work really hard. I have spent my entire 14-year career working in urban schools, and wouldn’t change it for anything. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, allow me to share some of my unpopular opinions. Here’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, in light of…
Tag: Chicago teacher strike
The Civic Response to the Chicago Teachers Strike Shows How to Break Free of Compulsory Schooling
As the Chicago teachers’ strike continues with no end in sight, 300,000 students spend another day outside of the public school classroom. Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, says this is damaging to children. “We need to get our kids back in school,” the mayor said Thursday, CNN reports. “Every day we are out, that hurts our children.” But Are the Children…
Here’s How I Know Black Lives Don’t Really Matter to the Chicago Teachers Union
I do not support a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union. No matter what the union has done, Black students have never been supported. A CTU strike will create additional barriers for them. I’m tired of people using my community as a sacrificial lamb.
Reason #1 on Why CPS Teachers Shouldn’t Go on Strike (5-part series)
The central question in this whole “teacher strike” fight is this: Do teachers in Chicago make enough money? In a word…yes. When it get’s down to it, teachers (especially teachers in Chicago Public Schools) are heroes. At some level, there is no amount of money that we could EVER pay them that would be “enough” for the service that they…
Single Mom Pens Open Letter to CPS
As a single black mother with two children currently being taught in two totally different school settings, I can definitely see a difference in their educational habits that I believe to be inspired per their institutions/peers. My 8 year old daughter (Cayce) is in 3rd grade at a private Catholic School (St. Angela) and has been there since the age…
Chicago Parent Threatens to Remove Son from CPS if Strike Becomes “Too Lengthy”
As a parent who has only been with the CPS system for just over a year now, I find it disheartening to hear of a possible teachers strike and disruption of my child’s education. To have to prepare for and find solutions that will minimize the effect of a disrupted education just as the school year has kicked off is…