Why It is ONLY RIGHT to Support The Chicago Teachers Union! (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

“The right to education is a universal entitlement to education, a right that is recognized as a human right! The right to education does not belong in the hands of the private sector!”

With 48 hours left in the countdown of contract negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public Schools Board of Directors, I feel that it is only right for Proffits Piledriver to weigh in on this existing issue that is occurring. Reason being, to not only illustrate my loyal support for the Chicago Teachers Union, but to illuminate light on the areas that I feel that the public is in the dark about when it comes to what is happening, and thus many people in the public are lead to having no choice but to be ignorant to the facts.
Let me start off by stating the my wife is a High School Reading Teacher for Kelly High School on the Southwest side of Chicago. Next year will be her 10th year of teaching for Kelly and being an employee of CPS. I’m proud of my wife, because she pursued and accomplished her dreams of being an educator. From the moment I met her, per passion for education has always been in the forefront of her life, as she feels that her sole purpose for existing is to help enrich the lives of children and shape them to be tomorrows leaders. But with that preparation comes amenities and means to make sure that these kids are adequately equipped. So this way when they DO graduate from high school, they are more than prepare for that next phase in their lives, and her goal every year is to make sure to encourage that, that next phase indeed is a college education. This is the woman I met, this is the woman I married, this is the woman of whom exists today.

However, the common denominator that I keep hearing amongst people who are critical of the teachers is “they’re only going on strike because they want more money. I mean, they already make doctor salaries, they’re just being greedy”. Oh Yes! This is a REAL argument that I read one day when reading a Facebook discussion thread about the imminent strike. Really?!?! Doctor salaries?! And you really think that this fight to the bone is solely about money?! In the above paragraph when did I ever mention money? Where was it mentioned that my wife stated “I want to be a teacher so I can make a tank load of cash?” Sorry, NEVER was mentioned! I’ve never met a teacher that states that they got into education to get those “doctor” paychecks. I plead to you, to unlearn this.

What is happening, is that the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel and Chicago Public School CEO Jean Claude Brizard are on this destructive warpath to completely gut the Chicago Public School system, in the interest of privatizing education and taking away the quality that should be in the classroom.
Theirinterest lies in seeing that corporations have sole say in the Chicago Education System, by ridding all public schools and replacing them with Charter Schools in CPS. Education is a multi-billion dollar industry and it costs you nothing to start a charter school because it’s totally financed by public tax dollars, which are handed over to cronies who can pocket a ton of money as “profit” and basically do whatever they damn well please. This is the biggest threat to education in our country that you could imagine, and way to make a lot of people rich on tax dollars while dumbing down America. Police, firemen and nurses are next! This is why, this strike is so important to ALL of us.

In the past Rahm has expressed his disdain and his opposing stance against the UAW (United Auto Workers) and has done nothing but transfer that anger and aggression towards the CTU. What Rahm wants to see happen is to turn over the public schools to the wealthiest 1% of Chicago billionaires and cutting middle class jobs by annihilating the teachers union. No where in his plan, does he have the best interest of the middle class, as the only sub section of people who comes out of this are the upper class elite, who could care less about classroom quality.

Still opposed against the Chicago Teachers Union? Here is what they are Fighting for…

(This is an excerpt that my wife posted a couple of days ago on Facebook that she received from her colleague, so the credit here goes to her colleague)

a) Full staffing on Day 1. Right now neighborhood schools wait until the 5th week, out of a 40 week school year, to receive full staffing.
b) Textbook availability on Day 1.

c) Access to a computer with an internet connection for every employee. (All of our records, grades, attendance, discipline, IEPs, lesson plans, curriculum mapping, etc. are done online.)

d) A single computer for each classroom.

e) A place for social workers and psychologists to speak with struggling students in private.
f) Lockable filing cabinets in which to store student records that are by law confidential.
g) Enough textbooks for every child in every class.
h) Enough desks or chairs for every child in every class.
i) Reasonable class sizes.
j) A recall policy giving veteran, experienced, effective teachers – as evaluated by CPS – access to job openings when they are laid off through no fault of their own due to school closings, school turnarounds, or other poorly constructed CPS policies.

Believe this or not, these have been the demands of teachers for quite some time now, but the board REFUSES TO COOPERATE! Parents, everything that is listed above, is in benefit of your child’s education! Its the teachers who are fighting so hard, so passionate for it, to see to that your son or daughter is well equipped at school with the right resources. How can it be justified, that a board (of greed) can sit there and basically say “your children are not worth this. We do NOT value the resources that your children need for proper education. We will FIGHT AGAINST YOUR CHILDREN to see to it that the teachers that are fighting FOR them, will NEVER receive the resources that YOUR CHILD needs for a proper education.” Parents…is THIS what you want? Are you OK with THIS? Are you willing to stand alongside with the board to stand AGAINST the teachers? Who are fighting for your children’s rights to a proper eduction?

The public is being fueled with venomous propaganda, in the interest to turn the parents (whose children are the ones being victimized) against the teachers whom are fighting for their children. All summer long, when I turn on the radio, I tune into a local hip hop station, 107.5 WGCI. And all summer, I would hear this one particular commercial that was always played of these two women (two African-American women) having a conversation about the (at the time) pending teachers strike. This commercial was 100% inaccurate as both women came to the conclusion that the Chicago Public School teachers are willing to walk out of the classroom and strike because they want more money. And that the CPS board is trying their absolute hardest to negotiate with them, but the teachers are uncooperative and basically, don’t care about the students. Absolutely disgusting and propaganda at its finest. However, what amazes me (and maybe it shouldn’t) is that, I was having this discussion with a very close friend of mine, who happens to be Latina. And she told me that the SAME commercial is being played on 107.9 LA LEY. LE LEY is a very popular Spanish speaking radio station in Chicago. It’s the same commercial, but with two Latina women speaking to each other, but in Spanish! So I did an experiment, to tap into my curiosity of this and I spent a LONG afternoon listening to 101.9 The mix, 103.5 Kiss FM and WLS Radio. The first two stations are stations that focus more on top 40 pop music and the last is all news. Now, the majority of the audience that listen to 107.5 is African-American. The majority of the audience that listens to 107.9 is Latino American. And the majority of the audience that listens to the last three stations that I listed are majority Caucasian. Between 101.9, 103.5 and WLS, not ONE TIME did I hear a propaganda commercial played for the listeners! So, why is it that the CPS board has the absolute temerity to create this media poison, but ONLY distribute it to the African-American and Latino listeners? Do they feel that Blacks and Latinos have no capabilities to formulate their own opinion via critical research, so its easy just to spoon feed them nonsense? because they’ll believe it anyway?! This just show s how LITTLE Rahm and Brizard perceives both groups, because to them, they are easy to manipulate. So, I ask the parents who are standing with the board…this is whom you are standing with?

48 hours from now will be the time action to be heard. 48 hours from now, tens of thousands of teachers and supporters will come together and stand together to fight for ONLY what is right and that is Fair Contract Agreements for the CTU. Rahm Emmnauel came into this Mayor position, with an immediate chip on his shoulder. He has shown right away that he is NOT a mayor for the people of Chicago, but he is a front line juggernaut to take care of the maniacal corporate representation that he wants nothing more than to be in the back pockets of. Not for the good of community, but good for the protection and gained advantage of the 1%.

Today I urge you to JOIN ME...

JOIN ME in the undying support and will to move forward in standing alongside the Chicago Teachers Union!

JOIN ME as we put an END to the negative propaganda that is being spread through the media to influence those who have no clue to the details of what the CPS board is trying their hardest to deprive students of.

JOIN ME as a collective unit, that THE PEOPLE WILL BE HEARD!

JOIN ME as we, AS A PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY, REFUSE to allow Corporate Greed enter into our classrooms and rob our children of the right resources and quality educators, so that they may not progress in their lives.

JOIN ME in spreading awareness to the public and bring US back together so that we can once again exemplify the ancient proverb “It Takes A Village To Raise A Child.”

JOIN ME on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, MySpace, Flickr, Foursquare, GetGlue, Pintrest, Stickcam, Podcast as we utilize this digital revolution and we MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD! And we let those suits and let those and those empty hearted big wigs know, that we REFUSE to back down, we REFUSE to be quiet, we REFUSE to submit, we REFUSE to lay down our guards. For if it has to be a night and day fight, then a night and day fight it is!

JOIN ME in telling Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, and CEO Jean Claude Brizard That WE REFUSE to to side with them and that WE are devoting our undying devotion and undying support and undying solidarity in eternal support for what is RIGHT!

And what is right is THE CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION!

Fighting today for a Unified Tomorrow!