The Feeble Strength of One! - Bridging Differences - Education Week - 0 views
-
Jeff Bernstein on 10 Feb 12A year substituting in Chicago's public schools made me a radical/"reformer" from Day One. I saw the teachers' union as a force for good-including the individual good. For example, two of my 'children' became teachers and both have had to protect themselves via union-enforced due process at some point in their careers. In the absence of due process, none of us is safe from unjust bosses or benign rulers. (It's one reason I'm also such a fan of the Association for Union Democracy, which protects union members and staff from injustices by their "union bosses.") Perhaps the dividing line on reform has something to do today with our gut reaction to calls for solidarity with our peers-our identification with the powerless. And thus our devotion to due process: "There but for the grace of God goes me." The tension between individualism and solidarity even interacts with a puzzle I've been concerned with of late re. neighborhood schools vs. "schools of choice." Can choice sometimes be good for an individual and bad for the larger community, and if so ...?