A Different Lens: Generational Shifts and Social Justice

Here's Joe Williams with some trenchant comments on the generational divide in education:

A few years ago  I attended a United Federation of Teachers Rally inside Madison Square  Garden. The teachers were extremely fired up, well organized, dedicated to  what brought them there (they wanted a contract, which was clear because  they said it over and over) and, to be blunt, they were old. No wait,  that's not fair. They were more like aging hipsters. Heck, Richie Havens  provided the entertainment. (Yes, he IS still alive, I learned.)
 
Many of the people there were the type of teachers who fought  hard during the lean years for educators in NYC and who made  collective sacrfices as a workforce in the 1970s which literally helped  save New York City from bankruptcy. They spoke strongly about wanting to be at  the table, demanding to be collaborative partners with management, etc. If you  asked them about closing the achievement gap and the performance of their  students, they'd say of course it drives them. Many would say that  is INDEED why they needed a contract and better treatment from  management, etc. so they could better concentrate on their students  without all of the stress that not having a contract causes.
 
Compare and contrast that crowd, though, with the people  that Jay Mathews met at the recent KIPP Summit in Scottsdale,  Ariz <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080700572.html> . Mathews, who also noted how strikingly  young  (and racially diverse) the teachers and principals looked at the  summit, described the educators as being totally obsessed with continuous  improvement and making sure their students were performing on par with the  best private schools in their area. KIPP always gets knocked  for requiring long hours and demanding a lot from the teaching staff. My  hunch is that the people who choose to work at KIPP and similar ventures don't  do so simply because they are gluttons for punishment. Clearly, they see a  connection between the model and the enormous task at hand. That is, the long  day and other less-than-desirable working conditions are seen as part of the  means to the end that really drives them.
 
And it isn't like these people seem to think that teacher  solidarity and the other ideals that teachers unions push are wrong,  just that they are outdated. Or at least not as important given the enormous  task at hand.

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Joe Williams, DFER blog
http://www.dfer.org/2007/08/a_different_len.php#more
August 9, 2007
A Different Lens: Generational Shifts and Social Justice

The recent back-and-forth <http://www.dfer.org/2007/07/who_is_holding.php#more>  over whether or not public charter schools where teachers choose not to become unionized should be named after pro-labor civil rights figures like Cesar Chavez exposed one obvious reality that is just hanging over today's school reform scene: