Teachers’ Protest in Wisconsin

The spectacle of teachers protesting in the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, demonstrates the very reason I was not a member of a union when I taught school for thirty years. (I was a member the first year, but never again.) I looked upon teaching as a profession, not just a job. If the rest of them had marched in strike, I would have gone to my classroom to teach anyway. If no student showed up, I would have stayed there till my regular time was ended for the day. I understood the others would have called me a scab. Who cares about that?

As I think this blog already states somewhere, I explained to the high school seniors I taught that they could look into salary schedules, insurance, tenure, etc., in any school district before opting even to train to become a teacher. It doesn’t make sense to me to have such information and then, at the drop of a hat, start striking for higher pay or for certain other advantages. What they should have been protesting for a long while is the scandalous amount of money poured into education in this country with the results sinking lower and lower each year. They pay taxes too. Don’t they care? We are not getting our money’s worth out of today’s public schools. It is a shame on the part of many, a crime of a few. ♥