The Dyad of Unions
It pains my heart so, the schisms that exist between many a pair of educational belief systems, which, when seemingly pitted against each other, ultimately result in hurting the very individuals education is meant to serve—young people. Public school versus private schools, for instance. Each views the other askance. Charter schools and district schools spy on each other with similar distrust. This, despite ALL such systems—public, private, and charter—being likewise entrusted with the identical task of growing the nation’s next citizenry.
Pro-union and anti-union groups are a further example. That they are even regarded as factions at all suggests how far each group has strayed from the mutual charge (the nurturing of young souls) stemming from the most shared belief—the primacy of the teacher.
Will it ever be possible for any of the dyads mentioned above to work together, bonded by shared sentiment and a commitment to serving the common goal?
Sadly, when it comes to the dyad of unions—pro and anti—the former is viewed as condoning a system that serves to protect teachers, even the bad ones, while the latter is viewed as condoning a system that serves to reward teachers, but, in so doing, unfairly punishes the struggling ones. However, when knowing what is the single and most important factor in determining quality of outcomes for young people, both groups realize that it’s not how many computer labs or maker-spaces a school has; both groups are aware that it’s not the caliber of the physical plant and of the buildings on a campus; both groups would even admit that it’s not about curriculum and programmatic offerings. While these features are certainly critical in their own right, these features are only as effective as the adults—teachers and staff—skilled enough at leveraging these features as means and as tools for delivering quality. In other words, the features of place, space, equipment, and such, exist merely as useful adjuncts—as accessories to the body of older people who, alone, are vested with the capacity to effectively nurture young people via conveyance of the desired influence.
Fundamental to their role as conduit is the role adults play as models. It’s the adults in any community existing as the aspirational projections for younger people that makes teachers the most valuable resources in any school. Both pro-union and anti-union groups operate on the basis of this shared understanding that places human capital above all else.
