Dear Teachers Associations’ Leaders Everywhere by Sergio Flores
Dear teachers associations’ leaders everywhere.
This state of worldwide emergency has exposed the flaws, faults, and wrongs of the neoliberal ideology that has dominated our political and civic life for decades. IMO, for public school educators, it is important to acknowledge this revelation for three elemental reasons. Firstly, to understand how corporate reformers have seamlessly imposed detrimental privatizing policies in the last thirty years. Second, to accept that as stakeholders of the public school system, it is your ultimate responsibility to reject the neoliberal false premises and flawed reasoning used to confuse and impose privatizing policies. And thirdly, to become effective advocates for public education by reframing its issues invoking the civic values that sustain our democracy. It is a lot to ask, but I do not see other way to save public education from the corporate predators whose greed knows no limits.
Arguably, at this critical point in history, the future of public education rests heavily on your commitment to defend public education against powerful elite that has been plundering it for almost two decades now. You can organize a movement to defeat them, but for that you have to educate all members so they stop playing their neoliberal rigged game. The policies founded on neoliberal ideology have proven to be ineffective, disruptive, and damaging to public schools, teachers, students, and democracy itself. Isn’t it time to regain our profession, our livelihood, and our public education? Well, thousands of teachers are waiting for your leadership to engage them.
It is safe to say that this overwhelming challenge to defend public education during quarantine is not something you might have anticipated during your campaign. However, it is clear that the chronic threat to defund, dismantle and privatize public schools has reached a critical level impossible to ignore. Unlike at any time before, this intimidating challenge truly demands union leaders capable and eager to defend, restore, and promote public education as a most necessary and valuable civic institution in America. In short, teachers’ associations’ leaders declining to profess and act according to union values will accelerate the corporate reformers’ plan to end public education as we know it.
The covid-19 emergency found public education, schools, and teachers weaker and more vulnerable due to decades of corporate reformers’ attacks. Unsurprisingly, corporate reformers are readier than ever to take advantage of this health and economic crisis. They have obviously considered this crisis as a golden opportunity to profit more and safer from public education. This shocking moment is perfect to defund to the point of crippling, dismantle, and ultimately privatize public schools for good, with little or no resistance from stakeholders.
A worrisome first warning happened in New York. The state Governor Cuomo announcing his plan of asking billionaires like Bill Gates of “reimagining” a future with even more technology integrated to our lives should have alarmed every public school teacher. An even more distressing announcement in California came from Governor Newsom informing that he plans to cut 19 billion dollars over the next two years. [1] For progressive educators paying attention, these seamlessly unrelated events in New York and California demonstrates the radically ideological and material effects of enabling the neoliberal ideologues to control the narrative. Is this the prelude to a new normal? Disturbingly, public schools’ stakeholders and intellectuals have not voiced concerns about these crippling cuts in funding in California, or the invitation to billionaires to once more intrude in public education and other aspect of our civic life. These pronouncements are somehow accepted!
So, I dare to ask: Are you going to become an active public school advocate and educate your fellow teachers and members about the treacherous slippery slope to oblivion in which neoliberalism has placed our public school system? Or are you going to allow corporate reformers to culminate the privatization of our public education system? Are you going to stop enabling them and participating in such plan? The stakes cannot be higher at this point –opportunity, privacy, freedom, democracy, and the public school system itself, for instance. Are you going to use your position and voice to come up with, and articulate a civic vision of public education? Or are you going to let billionaires impose theirs?
Who wins, who loses, who cares?
In solidarity,
Sergio Flores