Chicago Teachers Strike Hurts Parents Just as Much as Kids

by Carolyn Buchanan on September 12, 2012
author Carolyn  Buchanan

Carolyn Buchanan

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Teachers Strike

Just when Chicago parents were mastering the new steps to the eagerly anticipated "back-to-school" dance, the music's been shut off, and families are left at a standstill. With less than a week of school under their belts, Chicago school students are being told to "stay home". According the Chicago Tribune, Chicago's public schools are closed today because a political impasse between the school teachers union leaders and the Chicago Public School officials has resulted in a teachers strike. Hundreds of thousands of families are affected.

I say it's time for a parents strike! Most hard-working families with kids in public schools can't afford to be lofty in their education ideals. Sure they'd like to be, but given the way our political system plays with public school funding, changing the rules from year to year, parents are left scrambling to keep up. When schools close, they're forced into a whirlwind just to make sure they can get to their jobs while ensuring that their kids will be kept safe. Forget the lost days of learning. That's a luxury!

Reportedly, some contingency plans have been made to supervise and feed students whose parents have no other childcare options. But the idea that parents will be forced to leave young children with strangers and in unfamiliar environments is troubling. The notion of "warehousing" comes to mind when it's education and engagement that we're all seeking.

If at the other end of strike, changes are made that will improve the quality of education to the very children who are now missing out, then the current confusion may be worth it. But more often than not any "improvements" are years in the pipeline and the current crop of students who (hopefully) go through each grade only once, will lose out.

How would you react to a teachers strike? What difficulties would it pose for your family? Tell us below in the comments section!

Source: Flickr