I remember seeing coverage of a teachers strike out east in the 1980s. Much of organized labor seemed to be feeling its oats in the 1980s. Maybe you remember the Hormel labor action here in Minnesota. A more depressing level of conflict among human beings you could not imagine. Any sensible person would come away thinking "there has got to be a better way."
The teacher strike that was being covered on TV involved some replacement teachers showing up at some point. I suppose the people who were responsible for running these institutions felt at a certain point that the kids and their families needed the professional services. Could the teachers be persuaded to let up? I mean, for the sake of the kids? Seems a child's play type of argument as it were.
But logic never comes so easy in labor actions. In fact it doesn't come at all. So it is so exasperating.
The TV coverage showed a replacement individual being accosted by one of the picket sign-carriers. The latter individual shouted at the top of his voice, basically right into the face of the other person. "Scab! Scab! Scab!"
What animal-like behavior. What possesses a person to act like this? An even more important question: Isn't it below the dignity of teachers to behave like this? I mean, if we were talking about pipefitters or stevedores, well maybe. Schoolteachers? Very concerning if this behavior is seen to pass muster. And I don't think it does anymore.
When was the last time you learned about a teachers strike on TV? If they happen, they are more subdued.
We all want to like and appreciate schoolteachers. Problem is, they make it hard for us so often. Teachers have one strike against them because we all can remember bad experiences involving schoolteachers from our own student phase. And why couldn't the school systems have lightened up a little?
I remember a good motivational speaker once who started his presentation - I paraphrase - "When you're set to start turning your life around, the first thing to do is to forget all the bad things that happened to you in school."
Good advice of course. But why is it assumed that nearly all of us had horrible experiences from public school? I guess we have, at least people up through a certain age. I'm with the boomers in terms of generation. I was born right at the heart of it. Our parents had the good fortune to get through the Depression and then World War II, so by golly they were going to celebrate by bringing new lives into the world.
When my confirmation class at First Lutheran Church in Morris had its photo taken, we were arranged in rows. That's shocking because in later years a mere handful of kids, a sprinkling by comparison, got in the photo. My generation took for granted our state of affairs, that kids would just keep flooding the U.S.
And a huge irony: despite our numbers, we didn't have anywhere near the organized activities for youth that are presented them today. What a blessing today: an indoor arena for hockey, fully developed girls and women's sports, an FFA program just to name three things. Yes, there was no FFA program here when I was in high school. For some reason, FFA was associated with the very small towns. Strange.
Of course, FFA is really synonymous with vo-tech education. The proposal for FFA was controversial when it came along in Morris. Oh, I know there was at least a faction of teachers lined up against it - I would describe this group as "the usual suspects," the teachers who were complaining so loudly about the lot of teachers all the time.
I was with the Morris paper and I remember photographing two of our teachers with picket signs in the background, all set up to go if our teachers decided to become belligerent and go on strike. This was the early 1980s, a nightmarish spell of time when teacher unions everywhere in Minnesota were either going on strike or scaring the hell out of their communities by threatening to go on strike.
Oh, I remember the names of the two teachers in the photo I took: Jack Kern and Dorwin Tschetter. From my perspective - a pretty good perspective considering my position at the newspaper - Kern was the worst for acting political as a teacher, for agitating, gossiping among his peers and in general being distracted from his real purpose. Don't worry, I have personal memories about these things and I'm not going to share any more fine details.
I saw from my perspective that Bob Mulder was another such individual. I feel many of these people succumbed to certain pressures that fell upon teachers everywhere throughout Minnesota, and possibly all across the nation. You must understand that unions are all about power. There is nothing else to it. Don't be Pollyannish.
Teachers already have one strike against them because as I have already pointed out in this post, we all have bad memories from school - we aren't inclined to want to stand in line praising our old teachers. We might want to flip them the bird.
Not to be a Debbie downer here, so I'll point out that things seem far more positive today.
I no longer have the perspective of being with the newspaper - I used to be aware of everything, too much for my own good sometimes. But I'm fairly certain of what I speak. One of my informed friends says with concern, "the kids walk all over the teachers now."
I smile. It's probably a better state of affairs than what I remember, when teachers showed a dictatorial stance that beat down the kids' self-esteem. So very few 'A' grades given out in so many classes, I have asserted before that teachers made their classes hard because it gave them a feeling of importance as teachers.
The need for power/importance reflected the teachers' constant drive to "get more" in their next (expletive) contract.
Teachers should be idealistic today. They should not be of a mind to shout "scab!" in the face of another human being.
Will we ever see picketers outside of UMM again? Remember that episode? People drove by them honking horns as if to express support. That was implied, maybe supported by a friendly wave. And this was done because the normal human being never wants these strident strikers to be against you. Heaven forbid, these people could easily become violent, commit vandalism.
Teachers have the awesome power of grading our kids. Today the honor roll lists for high school are so long compared to what I remember. Why did it take our school leaders so long to recognize the need for change?
I'm trying to heed the opening words of that motivational speaker: Step one toward a new life is to forget all the bad things that happened to you in school.
Why has our society chosen to inflict such pain on itself in the past? Well, consider that our American society once lived with the Vietnam war and its carnage for years and years. We are so human an animal.
Remember "scab football?" To hell with "scab" and related terminology. We should NEVER be in a position to de-humanize each other. I hope the teacher out east who shouted "scab!" has had a miserable rest of his life. And that he ends up in hell.
Think I'm anti-teacher union? Look up and read how Mike Pompeo feels about teachers unions. He must have had some very bad things happen to him in school. Here's one area where I'd high-five with this former Trump partner in government. But not in any other area.
BTW I have the warmest thoughts today about Dorwin Tschetter, a member of my church of First Lutheran.
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| Dick Gephardt |
Because, I saw such obviously offensive aspects to teacher activism and other labor flexing-of-muscles.
Democrats need to be careful about such matters. I could easily retreat to the GOP side again. Or just become detached from everything. Dick Gephardt was once associated with blindly-pro-labor causes. But I read in the last couple years that this politico from Missouri had switched and become a consultant to business on how they can crush their unions! Maybe he finally got fed up with some things too.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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