Teacher's Unions have been around now for over a hundred years, with the first official union having been founded way back in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois. This union, The American Federation of Teachers, accomplished many helpful things for teachers as a whole, such as helping raise salaries and making sure female teachers were treated fairly in a time when sexism was rampant in the public and private sector.
Other unions would emerge, strikes would take place, laws were passed to raise wages, and the educators across America benefited greatly. This emergence follows very closely the theme of challenging traditional systems that we would see come forth in the Digital Age, and in many instances mirrors some of the ideas about protest so common in the Reformation. Teachers were going on strike in states and areas where wages were not high enough in an active protest against unfair payment for their work. This new way of challenging the way things were done was prolific, and it's still going on today.
Unions today have similar strategies as those of the 20th century: negotiate wages, organize strikes, and protect the rights of hard working teachers across America. However, contemporary unions also focus more on political movements and supporting political candidates that will help their interests more than before. Other developments such as tenure would make their way into unions as the time passed, and thus unions had changed to some degree from what their original ideas were.
Some states today support unions wholeheartedly, while other states make laws that push against the power of the unions in an effort to retain some control over the ever changing field of education. States that allow more room for unions generally have better wages for teachers and less strikes occur because of this. It seems that unions and education might be better handled at a federal level, that way the quality of life for educators can be consistently better across the board.Photo Source:
http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/shutterstock_80227045.jpg
It's sad that teachers have to form unions and fight to be paid and treated well. It seems we undervalue them greatly, especially compared to other countries. Common conversations could be related to capitalism and socialism: what level of government should we hold responsible for funding and regulating schools? Would people be better educated and teachers treated better if schools were all privatized, or would that just harm the students that come from lower income backgrounds?
ReplyDeleteWould the voices of unions be better heard at a state level as opposed to a federal level? During the Founding of the United States, James Madison was worried about factions taking over, and in the Federalist 10 paper, he discusses how factions can gain majority tyranny in a small republic whereas large republics introduce more competition and prevent the overthrow of one faction. This isn't to call unions factions, but the principle could be similarly applied--are their voices and influence better heard within the small republic of a state? Would the federal government give as much attention to them as a state government?
ReplyDelete