The Future of Education...and it's only my first year.

Snow Day Number 2... I think I have some catching up to do to you southern Illinois folk. Even though there is barely snow on the ground, I think they canceled school because of the freezing rain? Even then I am not sure of the reason, regardless, I will use this time to do another post.

A lot has happened since my last post. For those of you that are not aware of what is happening in Wisconsin, I would like to first offer a bit of a summary before I offer my thoughts:

This year, Wisconsin has elected a Republican Governor, and the most recent election has created a massive Republican majority in the State Senate. This being said, a lot of the teachers in my district and state were fearful of what might happen once they heard the results of the election. Fast forward to Friday February 11th. The new Governor submits his plan for the Budget fix (Wisconsin is supposedly in a little debt) which he hopes to be voted on by the following Thursday. This document was 144 pages long, and given that length, was not allowed a sufficient amount of time for reviewal before voting. Within the budget fix bill, the Governor called for many cuts in spending including having teachers and state employees pay more into their retirement and health care funds. Furthermore, if this was not enough, the Governor wants to strip all state employees of their collective bargaining rights. (collective bargaining is what allows teachers and unions to "bargain" with their employers and allows teachers to have input on the education of their students. It deals with such things as work day hours, teacher pay, amount of sick days, amount of prep time, amount of personal days, amount of school days, etc).

Well as you could imagine, this did not sit well with many people. In essence, the Governor's Budget fix bill could lead to a busting of all Unions. There was immediate protest to the bill in Madison on the first day of 10,000 teachers and sate employees. On the second day, the number tripled. By the third day the Numbers tripled again, and the Senate Democrats, fearing they did not have enough time to review the bill and that the Governor was trying to Push this bill through without discussion or amendments, fled the state in hopes to postpone a vote.

On the fourth day of rallies in madison, the numbers were up to 130,000 people. Madison area schools have been closed (including today) for four days due to teacher's calling in sick in support of the rallies. Many more schools across the state closed for similar reasons. By last Friday, this was getting national attention.

And then this happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPuqW3BaZRc . The Wisconsin Assembly met Friday to discuss and vote on amendments to the bill that will then be brought in front of the Senate for final votes. The Assembly was scheduled to start at 5:00pm, but the Republican members decided to start early (with quorum) in an effort to vote on the bill without discussing two crucial amendments that the Democratic minority had on the table. They succeeded, just when the Democrats stormed into the room screaming in protest. (honestly something out of a movie).

So here is where we are at: The Assembly Democrats forced them to repeal the vote due to its immorality and going against the rules, and have adjourned until Tuesday when they will vote again on amendments to the budget fix bill, which will then be brought in front of the Senate.

ALL THE WHILE, I have been thrust in to the middle of this craziness. My fellow first year teachers are very frightened by this situation, especially when they see veteran teachers (who we thought could never be phased) shaken up by what might happen. Furthermore, we are all expected to put all of this aside and continue teaching.

No matter how good of a preparation we had, this is yet another thing that you can not train for during college. At the end of last week, I called one of my college professors for some advice, and, in his infinite wisdom, calmed me down with these words: "The only thing you can do in times like this is worry about what is most important; your students... There is nothing you can do to prevent what is about to happen, but what you can do is be the best teacher you can be."

I have a concert coming up Thursday, Solo and Ensemble in two weeks, and a music boosters fundraiser Tuesday. Seems like a lot to worry about on top of all of this political messiness, but if all that matters is my students, then that is all that matters. I trust my professor because he has never led me astray. I just hope that the future of education, and the future of my students is not in jeopardy with the storm that is about to sweep across this nation.