Weekly News Archive

February 20 (’05) – February 26 (’05)

Crossing the Picket

I’ve been dealing with the teachers’ work-to-rule protest for two days now, and it has been long enough to develop a strong opinion about it.

It sucks.

Life is already difficult on us students, and having to deal with the fact that our teachers are no longer there when we need them is just one more thing to add to the list of problems which we are constantly working on. I can no longer go see my teachers at lunch to ask questions, favors, or even to get assignments which I may have missed. I don’t know where to find teachers after school if I need to talk to them (nor do I imagine they would talk to me if I could find them). Not only does this make life difficult and painful for many, but it will certainly affect the grades of students.

Work-to-rule is not only detrimental to the student body, but it is an ineffective way of putting pressure on the district. The purpose of work-to-rule is that students complain to their parents, who in turn complain to the district, who decide that they should fix the problem by giving the teachers their contract. However, the system breaks down. The sorts of parents who are involved with the school—who would know how to complain—are the same parents who won’t need to complain. For the most part, the children of these involved parents won’t need to go in after school or at lunch to get help from the teacher, and thus they won’t feel the full impact of the work-to-rule protest. Generally the students who will feel the impact are those with less involved parents who wouldn’t know how to complain to the district.

If the teachers must protest, I’m inclined to say that they would be better off simply striking. It would put major amounts of pressure on the district and the issue would most likely be solved much more quickly. If it weren’t solved quickly, of course, then a strike would also be devastating to students.

As it is now, my friend has aptly described this state as a “purgatory.” We’re stuck here being harmed by the protest, while the district won’t or can’t do anything to fix it.

I’m completely in favor of teachers getting contracts and cost-of-living raises, but obviously, with the lack of education funds in the US and particularly California, there is probably not much that the district can afford to give. When you go into the teaching profession, there is an understanding that you will not be making scads of money and you probably won’t even be paid what your services are worth. I’m not saying that this is the way that is should be, but it’s the way that it is and teachers should understand that and not expect more than that. If anyone is to be blamed, if anyone is to be demanded of, then it should be our government, not our district.

Today my teacher told me she would have trouble finding time to write me a recommendation for my application to InnerSpark because she would have to do it during class. I keep imagining the devastation that would have followed had this protest been started while seniors were doing college applications. Thankfully it wasn’t. I keep wondering, how much longer can this go? If two days is this bad already, I have to wonder how much more of it I can take.

Someone needs to move. The teachers need to find a more effective way to protest or the district needs to give the teachers their contracts.

This just isn’t fair to the students.

— Harris