We Should be Ashamed of How We've Reacted

The following was published in the Bucks County Courier Times on January 30, 2012 (Link)

We should be ashamed.  We should all be ashamed of the way we have reacted to the contract impasse between our teachers and our school board.  There is really quite a lot to be ashamed about. 

We should be ashamed that when Larry Pastor and others like him called on us to take sides, we did.  We gave them lots of space in the newspaper to wage war, even waving the normal requirements for frequency of publication.  In the paper and on the internet they used fear and anger and hate to reach us, and we responded.  They told local politicians to pick sides, even though all involved are constituents, and some politicians did … while others felt compelled to clarify their positions and/or burnish their anti-teacher credentials.  They talked about the legality of strikes and the insidiousness of unions.  They told us that teachers aren’t entitled to ask for more money or better benefits.  They compared teachers to terrorists.  They talked about liberals and the elite and the exotic extravagances being enjoyed by teachers, and we bought all of it.  Instead of focusing on the issues we readied our insults, put our lawn signs up, strapped on our jackboots, got our guns, and prepared for battle in Larry’s army.

We should be ashamed that we have allowed our school board to become a combatant.  School board members speak at what can only be called anti-teacher rallies, and we applaud them.  They appear at school board meetings, and we cheer them as if they are conquering heroes or athletes about to take the field and represent our school.  We chant their names.  We declare our love for them.    We take their side against the teachers.  We have forgotten that the school board isn’t supposed to take sides … isn’t supposed to fight with the teachers.  The school board is supposed to balance the needs of teachers with the needs of the district as a whole.  We were supposed to remind them of this.  We should be ashamed that we haven’t.

We should be ashamed that in the wake of strike action by the teachers we all came out to that first school board meeting to shout at each other.  We chanted and shouted right into the beginning of the national anthem.  We clapped loudly for those that agreed with us, and booed and moaned and shouted insults at those of us who did not … often while they were still speaking.  We talked about the harm to our children and the bad example that was being set, and then called teachers names and shouted insults when they spoke their mind.  We talked about Catholic school closings, losing our homes, past strikes, and our own school experiences ... none of which had anything to do with the differences between the board and teachers on the key issues.

Most of all we should be ashamed at how we have chosen to solve this very real problem.  We have chosen to gather with folks who think like us and scream at those who don’t.  We have chosen to call each other names.  We have turned the ‘other side’ into empty caricatures … teachers are elitist, liberal, self indulgent, child haters who are living in the lap of luxury.  We have chosen to talk about everything from outlawing strikes to Obama, rather than spending all of our energy on issues of teacher involvement and compensation. 

This doesn’t, however, have to be the whole story.  We all will have to live with the way we have acted.  We don’t, however, need to be ashamed of what we do next.  Take the signs out of your lawns … all of the signs.  Politely clap for everyone at school board meetings, regardless of whether you agree or not.   Stop cheering for the board.  Stop yelling at the board.  Leave signs depicting teachers as child hating pigs at home.  Stop throwing insults around.  Try to keep all comments substantive.  Reject those who try to do otherwise.  If elected officials take a different course, don’t elect them again.  Do what you can to take back this problem and help solve it … and stop being ashamed.