Social Justice Unionism Is The Agenda
Teacher unions are allied internationally with various militant groups who cheerlead local efforts. BC and Ontario teacher unions consider themselves campaigners for centrally directed egalitarianism. This is what I wrote yesterday about our BC crew.
Global Eyes On Our Teacher Strike?
Is the whole world watching our teacher strike? Well, probably not. However, you can be sure a certain sector of international culture is deeply interested. I have seen our four-decades-long education struggles prominent on global socialist sites. Our teacher union, the BCTF (BC Teachers’ Federation), is seen as a vanguard in “social justice unionism”. Reports from the battle lines are sent out regularly.
Feedback is that “Lots of folks all over the world [are] taking notes from BCTF.”
Fabian socialism is alive and well — into their 130th year — motto: Educate, Agitate, Organize. Their method — incrementalism, gradualism. Their byword mouthed by their mascot, the tortoise — When I Strike, I Strike Hard.
A report just received by Rank & File (Canadian left labor website)— motto: Agitate, Educate, Organize — so similar to Fabianism — is here: The ABCs of the BC Teachers’ Fight http://rankandfile.ca/?p=2560
Even if an arbitrator were to resolve this tumultuous faceoff between union and government there is no guarantee that our toxic “status quo” would ever end — harmful and tiresome for students, parents and taxpayers. No, it would just continue for another 40 years!
What we do need is legislation to change the ball game. This experiment in monopoly mass education is the lifeblood for such obsolete behaviors as we witness today. Activists find fertile ground for their progressive political mission.
We do need to increase the opportunities for choices and alternatives in education. Already BC has quasi-charters — independent schools which operate with partial government funding and which must abide by contracts outside the rules of school boards and union agreements and which promise not to foster sedition.
We do need to move to a system where fully funded public charters are available, as in Alberta. And, we should seriously explore the promising new funding model for personalized education via Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) as found in Arizona.