I am MTEA

The Political State Report is, theoretically, non-partisan--it's just supposed to update people on the political haps in every state. Yet the PSR relies on volunteers to file reports. Wisconsin's only PSR correspondent right now is Owen, who runs the incredibly partisan Republican Boots and Sabers blog.

In other words, every single piece of Wisconsin news on Political State Report comes with Republican-colored commentary. Take this piece on TABOR: Owen quotes wholesale from an opinion piece by Frank Lasee--the guy who wrote the damn bill!--and then concludes with "I don't see anything in here that looks unreasonable." (For contrast, see my own take on TABOR here.)

Or this piece on a senate race poll that shows Russ (Everyone's Favorite Senator™) Feingold up by 22% over an opponent. Twenty-two percent! Russ has never won a senate race by more than 5%, and he's up by 22%! Yay, Russ, right? No. Owen says, "Of course, he shouldn't get too happy. Polls this early on are almost meaningless--especially for a Senatorial campaign."

What am I saying? Well, two things: One, somebody, perhaps one of my three or four faithful Wisconsin readers, really ought to head over to PSR and sign up as a Wisconsin correspondent just for some balance (Scott, maybe? I just don't have time myself). And two, I've been keeping an eye on Boots and Sabers for a while now, just to know thy local enemy, if you know what I mean.

Last week the state's standardized test scores were released. It's the sort of thing I notice, being a public school teacher and all. Owen noticed, too. He cited our oh-so-sympathetic-to-the-public-schools local paper's alarmist graphic showing exactly how poor Milwaukee's students do in reading. Now, I am a high school English teacher, and I know that when these kids get to me as sophomores--the year they are tested--many can't read at better than a eighth- or fifth-grade level. And I do my best with them to get them closer to where they ought to be. Now is not the time for me to run the litany of why Milwaukee kids do as poorly as they do on these tests, but believe me--I can go on hours.

Anyway, back to Owen: After the alarming graphic, he adds his only comment: "The next time WEAC tells you what a great job their membership is doing and demands more compensation, pull this story out of your pocket."

Quick quiz: If you're disturbed that the children in your city--in particular, the minority children--don't read at grade level, what do you do?

A. Try to identify causes of the deficiency
B. Encourage your audience to volunteer at their neighborhood schools
C. Apply for a teaching position because you know you can do a better job
D. Blame the teachers' union

Duh, blame the union, of course--if you're a Republican. (I wrote about that tendency last year.) In fact, blaming the union--any union--is a safe bet for any problem, if you're a Republican.

So I left Owen a comment, ending with this: "Yes, I say we--I am an MPS teacher, a high school English teacher in fact.  I won’t bother to get into why Milwaukee scores are low, since I doubt, Owen, it will change your opinion of me." Owen's response blew me away, though. I've had a hard time, over the last several days, trying to figure out how to respond, or even if a should. No, it was not some bile-filled, expletive-laced harrangue. It was this:

I don’t have a problem with teachers.  I think that the vast majority of them are good, honest, hard-working, dedicated people.  I’m the son of a teacher and have spent my fair share of time “behind the scenes” in schools.  What I have a problem with is the Union which puts the needs of the union and the educracy above the needs of the kids.

Can he be serious? He doesn't have a problem with teachers?

One of the things that drives me most nuts about being a teacher, and being a teacher heavily involved in my union, is the way people don't connect the union with the people it represents. If I could get one thing across to the general public--and even to some teachers I work with!--is that I am the union! If you don't have a problem with teachers, how can you have a problem with our union? On the other hand, if you have a problem with my union, how can you claim not to have a problem with me? I am the MTEA. I am WEAC. Period.

I'm not sure where the myth comes from that teachers' unions are somehow responsible for the problems in schools. I suspect two things. One, I think, is the idea that the union somehow protects all those horrible child-abusing, chain-smoking, slack-off bad teachers who should be fired. I have to say, of all the bad teachers I have known, it isn't the union protecting them. It's inertia, irresponsible principals, district bureaucracy--not the union.

Two, I think, is exemplified by this letter from Friday's paper. Now, the letter-writer's ire is directed at the school board, but the major burr under the writer's saddle here is benefits, which people tend to blame on the unions:

[The school board's] disdain toward taxpayers becomes obvious--especially with their attitude of lavishing Milwaukee Public Schools employees with benefits that begin to border on obscene when compared with those of employees in the private sector. The board rejected cuts in fringe benefits for part-time workers who now receive a full package of fringe benefits including health care.

While no one protests reasonable benefits, an institutional mind-set of MPS suggests employees are entitled to premium packages regardless of cost. Today, private-sector employees and retirees are experiencing benefit reduction or elimination as well as having to increasingly contribute toward any benefits they receive. The School Board displays total disregard for those private-sector taxpayers who are losing benefits yet are required to pay higher taxes so MPS employees can enjoy premium benefits.

Again, point missed here. What's obscene is not my benefits, it's the fact that other people don't have benefits like I do. National (and even local) teachers' unions are among the leaders in trying to change health care policy so that benefits like mine are not "obscene," but rather the norm.

Beyond that, let me remind everyone that the single most significant factor in student achievement is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. The benefits I get? They're all I have. I make half as much in salary, if that, as a comparable Master's degree holder in the private sector with my experience. If I want to move significantly on the pay scale, I have to fork over almost as much to pay for continuing ed. classes. I have to deal with adolescents. All day. Owen's right that I'm a "good, honest, hard-working, dedicated" teacher. And one of the single most important reasons I stay is that I have a union that will protect me and keeps my compensation package such that I can afford to be a teacher.