Advocacy and Professionalism Together Upgrade Our Schools

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-'-one of the attitudes expressed in the '~ , recent Harris ,PO,ll w~s the conv,iction ,on , the part of both members an,d local ,-, presidents t4at teachers _can best be _ represented by" au_ organization that plays the role of both a professional 'organization' and a union. This attitude appears, on ,the surface, to be a type of wishful thinking for "the best of both worlds." However, anyone who at-•_ tended the QuEST Consortium (QualityEduca•tional Standards_ in Teaching) of the American Federation of TeacherS held, last weekend in_ Washington, D.C., saw very clearly that the pro~ _grams and seryices of the AFT are· designed to_ meet, both .the professionaI concerns of its mem~ , bers, and to --fulfill -the,advocacY'iole_generally , Set asid'e fQr a union;' ' ' '~ 4:he:~nntial Q.uEST, ConsortiUm: js~~esigneqt9: )rin!! 'together~AFT _members,sothat:oiriforma•,:l~ advl,sorijeports:cay.,bejle'velope"dand
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:iionaJ_~~tiQ.Q: programS 2.ndri;oj':;'ft~:,
cance 'as America enterS itsmcentenmal Year -·andlas bur nation prepa~est~ elect its Pr.esident. --'I;eachers" over the_past few years; lJ.ave learned ,yerypainfully that__ their professional concerns' "':,'C' <:;annot be 'separated, fro!Il~he'soCial and economic :<:,_piobleins fa~ingour Ilation~the therrieofthe
:consbitium,"EducatiQrl in a: Slid,ingEConomy,"•
'. ,,' wasaimce§atdemoIistratllg'yeiy~leady the iIl.t~r-',
dep:endence whidiexrsts:among"educatiSin and'

~;tli.eothel:-:s_ectors6£. ou.r society.' '. ,
A .review of the, "professional" ~ topics which '.wereconsiCiered at QuEST inCludes; "
·Prospects for ExpaIided Early Chi:ldhood Edu: ' , : cation '
.I!llp~():Ving Teacher Education'
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Ch;alienges in Higher Education

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Promising New Programs on Individualizing'Education ~j.

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Teacher Effectiveness,Research
. • Reading'and Matn;' 'the TesfScore Decline


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Career ang Vocational E<iucation
'. C~ncerns in Higher Education


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Education for th.e Handicapped

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Competency-Based Tea¢her Education Quotas

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'::Sttident: Rights ..:... " ' iQuES'J':,41d ,not isolate consideration of pro•fessional issues from" the social and'economic ej:>rl•


cerns . facing 'teachers. Indeed, theconfererice widened its Jocus to include workshops "on;
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• School Violence; Problem Children and the 'Schools
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The Contract as a Legal Doc:t,lment
,. Issues of Collective Bargailling


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School Firiance and-the Problems of the-Gities

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Legislative Prospects' ..., The' advisory reports and recommendations which were the products of the!\e workshops pro•vide many solutions and alternatives to some of. .the largest-:-problems facing education. But it is ,essential to note that the cornerstone of each ,of these solutions' is some form of increase,4 funding, either state or federal, for. education. And the key to_increased funding for education or any


'social program is an __upturn in the national :,economy,
As the'Congres~of the United States considers"
legislatiye proposals tq movethe nation's economy forward ,it is reassuring to 'know that the mem•bers -of the AFT are actively involved in seeking solutions, to. i,his, #scal crisis. George Meany; president of 'the AFL-CIO, came to QuEST to make a major policy statement on the hard times we find our economy struggling through~-' '

, . ,Mean,y ,cl~arly ..stated the' condition . C?f the,
nati?~ar eC?J?-0IllY-~and ho~ this, fiscal~ .colJapse
affects public',employees. ,": " " . _______ ' ,
"This spring;, America's industrial capacity is still hQvering around 70,percent. Three out of 10 plants are stilldark. Three out of lOrnachines

.are stcl.llqingidle.Unemp~o~ent stands· at 9.7
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million or 10.3 percent of the workforce, it,you count the discouraged workers and the partially unemployed-workers -who ,are ignored in the gov•ernment statistics;
"Millions are -running "out of unemployment insurance. New York citY still totters on the bring of bank~ptcy and ~ther state and city governments are near 'disaster. SQcial workers;:. hospital workerS, policemen, firefighters, sanita~ tion workers~and teachers-are being lai~ off.
"All the serVices Americans ~ have a fIght, to expect from their governments-serVices they, pay ,
-for, services they need-al"e being cut to the bone. The -American standard of living is falling. -__ ~i The quality of American life is deteriorating."
The QuEST ConsortiUm !J.as provided a clear opportunity fOLour members to be involved in ' the workings of a professional union.
~This aetivitydea~ly points out th~ interest and,
c.ommittmezitof the AFT and' the -AFL~CIO

'to: seek S9lutions' to the problems 'f<!-cing education.
, , In realitY, the real'professionalism ~ 'te~hing
is 'not diminished -by professional" uiiionism;

'-d,¢e9" it is' augrueQted 'and enhanced:
professional duties~ ~nd a real involvement in the
establishment of cumculum. In the absence of
'), -•pr()fessional ,unions and the, services they pro•vide, professionalism would be little more than
an emptY_ cliche applicable : only to those indi•
viduals willing to submit to_the demands oftheir
superintendent. '

The professional' teacher cannot, and sh~)Uld not insulate himself/herself from the social and, political realities of 'our nation. The cultivation of improved professional' services in our schools is" directly dependent on' our ability to. convince'
- the state and federal government to adequately
, fund education. If we neglect that aspect 6f' our professional responsibility, we Jeopardize the fti-, ' ture-of quality instructional_ programs. by allow•ing a ,deterioration of standards. One of the tra•,ditional hallmarks of a profession is a concern for upholding and upgrading the standards of that professiop. All teachers should recognize that an economy unable to adequately fund the needs of itS society and diminishing funding for educa-~ tion is harming our profession. The adequate· funding of schools and the involvemenf of teach-', ers, in school decision~making are two ingredients which are esse~tial to the improvement of the teaching profession and can only be obtained ' th,roy,gl} the united efforts of aprofessional union.
, , The New York :State United Teacher~ '~ffers "
the "best of both, worlds"-a stz:ongalliance with~

14.2 million other up.ionists supporting the pro~
grams. aJ?-d legislation that will uphold ~nd up•.grade'om profession. '


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PENNSYLVANIA
V> A'....." :r C' """ \.,n
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TEACHER
First December 19?8 • VOL II NO.?
C"lwZN
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FORM 3579 to Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers.
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1816 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 Z 1> ('"lC
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"Professionalism": The N h!

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"We are not workers; we are pro•were swept aside by the onrushing • A "professional" is one largely in relationshi~'" ..." ..... , employing fessionals, and because we are pro•aspirations of those who would wait control of the conditions that go•Boards of f-.:, ..,;;".,.~. fessionals we don't need nor do we no longer for economic and social vern his or her work life.
In point (/ icict,: :r:8re be peoplewant a labor Union to represent our justice that had first pointed them left who don't yei :.;nderstand thatinterests." toward our shores. • This self control or autonomy ap•the entire category of educationalplies not only to the time spent employees, including teachers, areWhat you have just read is a com•America's Changing Face working, and the time set aside White Collar Workers, in need of the posite statement of the feelings and for leisure, but also to the rate of help that only a militant, fightingattitudes which have, for a century or Swept aside, as well, was the politi•compensation to be charged for Union can provide, then.vhen nextmore, served as a staple item in the cal domination of what we talked services rendered.
they find themselves up to their necks propaganda of the National Education about before: small town and rural in difficulty, let them approach theAssociation. America. William Jennings Bryan and • Since it is service that we are moment of truth before the Board of
the "God fearing" fundamentalist pol•talking about, in the category of
Education alone, and clothed only in As analysis will show, the statement itics he represented were eclipsed by professionals belong the follow•the warmth of their precious "profes•itself is more than simply a composite the Social Gospel of Franklin D. Roo•ing: attorneys, physicians, arti•sionalism."
of feelings; it is a caricature of com•sevelt's urban oriented New Deal; a sans, writers, etc.
mon sense and a rebuke to the truth. gospel that would, within certain

Soon enough they will find that the limits, permit and even encourage Given these guidelines, surely no rights that teachers enjoy originate We need first, however, to examine "boat-rocking" challenges to worn one who comprises the staff of the not at all with our employers; and they the soil in which the attitudes first out authority; a gospel that would public and private schools of the na•do not exist simply because they havetook root and by doing that we will shake our land to its very foundations tion can, with accuracy, be said to be been enumerated in a contract. Rather have explained, at least in part, what, even as it ushered in the "era of the a "professional": our rights exist only and because they even to this day, the NEA is all about. Common Man."
have become an ingrown habit and any attempt to curtail their practice
We Are What We Are • Who, for example, is foolish
will meet with our concerted and col•
Association Origins
enough to believe and then to lective resistance. So also will it be
What, you might ask has this to do suggest that teachers and other
discovered that teachers and all other The NEA began as an expression of with the NEA? Much indeed, since as school personnel determine their public employees who cling to the be•the values of rural and small town it was a rural past that gave birth to own working conditions and set lief that a "professional" self-image America; an America of the white the NEA so it has been that its rural their own rates of compensation?
can in some way be translated into clapboard church and the little red composition, and all that that implies
• And who is so naive as to sup-respect f~om our employer~,. are, to beschool house; an America separated is what continues to sustain the NEA pose that the gradual improve-fran~ gUilty of the wo~st Kind of de•by thousands of miles and seemingly even to this day. That rural base, now ments we have achieved through ceptlon and self delUSion. C?ne c~m•hundreds of years from the burgeon-focused particularly in the South, is the years are in any way related pel~ respect from others, including ing urban centers that had recently historically and hysterically anti-union to our standing as "profes-one s employ~rs ":,,he:n one learns how begun opening th.eir doors to the which is, even after the most cursory sionals"? to defend one s dlg~lty as an educator"crude" and "ill-mannered" dispos-of examinations, not really very sur•
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sess8cLni.Europe; . ..a...veritable.ma5&.of--. . .. -p.rising-siRCe-as-eveFy-·true-·son·aA€!· .•humanity that would, before long, lit-daughter of the Confederecy knows,
In point of fact, self governance or When we return to this discussion erally alter the face of the nation; a the Union beds are filled with Bolshe•autonomy, upon which the very con•in our next issue, we will show that throng that would, by dint of determi-viks and we would know it too if only cept of "profesionalism" rests is alto•such concepts as "dignity," "de•nation challenge the assumptions of we would take the trouble to look.
gether nullified by the very existence fense," "rights," "progress," "jus•those who ruled America and the pre-That the crowd that calls the tune in of autonomy's opposite: an EMPLOY•tice," and all other concepts which sumed values upon which America the NEA is, by social convention, re-ER/EMPLOYEE relationship. speak to the human condition are in•had been founded: "rugged individu-quired to be somewhat circumspect extricably linked to a free Unionalism," the "survival of the fittest" explains the constant harping upon Movement. For now, let us be contentdoctrine, the hegemony of racial and the "there's nobody here 'cept us In point of fact, that this relationship to say that learning how to protect andethnic chauvinism, the unassailable professionals'.' rOLltine; and as it was has in any way been altered to the preserve one's dignity and sense ofpower of the Robber Barons; these that the word "professional" was what benefit of the teachers has been due self worth begins with a clear under•notions, these myths and so many occasioned this piece, let's look at entirely to the COllECTIVE standing of who and what we are.
more which had been wrapped in the what it means and to whom it properly STRENGTH we enjoy through the or•
(To Be Continued)
cocoon of apparent permanence, applies: ganizations that represent us in our

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