The Education Wars

Here is another excellent post at Teachers.net regarding our throwaway teachers society:

I do not have a solution to help you with your sense of loss and
grief, only to tell you that you are not alone. The despondency
that you feel works to the advantage of your suppressors, because
a person who is in a condition of shock and despair is hardly one
who will be in form to retaliate by taking legal action,
especially if there is no one in sight who is willing to help, as
you might have noticed.

The number of teachers who mysteriously “disappear” from their
classrooms is growing exponentially. Make no mistake, this
practice is very intentionally suppressed by a cooperating circle
of pubic school administrators, school attorneys, state
politicians, judicial supporters and finally, the media. These
agencies protect schools from bearing any consequence of any
crimes, misconduct and violation of laws, and taxpayers pay the
tab. More than any other government organization, school
administrators are beyond any review and not accountable to
anyone.

By contrast, teachers are accountable to everyone, and there is
no protective agency or advocate for teachers. As long as the
existence teachers whose rights have been grossly violated is
denied, there will be no rehabilitation or assistance from
society, and that is why this exploitation continues. The
struggle to suppress their voices is one that continues gets more
difficult for the powers that be.

But at the same time certain groups actually profit by this whole
scenario, and the stakes are high should any teacher be allowed
to win any battle against administration. Each day the struggle
to snuff out teachers “quietly”, many times behind closed doors,
gets more difficult – like trying to hold back a dam that is
about to break. Should only one teacher slip through the cracks
and be allowed to win a legal battle, it would be a victory
against an entire system, the house of cards would start to
tumble. That is why so much money is spent, desperately trying
to prevent publicity of the fact and preventing teacher from
gaining any ground legally. So your sense that it more than one
person you are fighting, but in fact an invisible “mob”, is not
paranoia, it is real.

Among those who profit by your misfortune are:

1) Your attorney who will charge you a fee for every petty
procedure

2) The notorious multi-billion dollar law firms who protect the
districts and chancellor. This is their business, this is their
gravy, and they welcome your misfortune.

3) Judges who often times make deals with the union to sweep the
cases of aggrieved teachers under the rug

4) Superintendents, who get to reward friends and relatives with
jobs and who are also rewarded for teacher turnover, since subs
are cheaper

5) Principals, who are rewarded for firing teachers

6) Administrators, because it keeps them employed by u-rating
teachers, hiring and firing teachers, etc., etc.