That collective imagination, that boldness to dream, is exactly what is needed in this moment of national crisis when families and children are being detained at the border, kept in squalid conditions and held, in what Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rightly calls, concentration camps. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
An Open Letter to Randi Weingarten and the American Federation of Teachers Regarding the Humanitarian Crisis at the Border
Let us carry the torch reignited by the CTU and the UTLA to illuminate the collective imagination and the bold dream for justice
During their 2012 strike, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) popularized the slogan "Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions." CTU demonstrated the necessity of genuine solidarity and cleared the way for the return of social justice unionism. They stood shoulder to shoulder with students, parents and community members to fight school closures, racial inequality, and the privatization of public education. Writing for Jacobin Magazine, Micah Uetricht summarizes the significance of CTU's approach, "When a union like the CTU can establish itself as a body that fights not just for its members' own narrow interests but for the entire working class, it can become the vehicle for a much broader leftist agenda." In short, it can affect change beyond the confines of the contract; it can deliver a broader slice of justice.
Teacher's working conditions are students' learning conditions. The United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) understood this when they launched a strike earlier this year, winning not only pay increases and smaller class sizes but also an end to "stop and frisk" policies within the schools and the addition of an immigrant defense fund to support undocumented families. In these instances, education unions have embraced the interests of the entire working class, and in doing so, they have helped unleash a collective imagination that has raised the expectations of communities everywhere.
That collective imagination, that boldness to dream, is exactly what is needed in this moment of national crisis when families and children are being detained at the border, kept in squalid conditions and held, in what Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rightly calls, concentration camps.
The physical and psychological harm that the Trump administration's immigration policies inflict on our communities directly impedes our ability to succeed in this work.
Being an educator is about more than raising test scores, supporting knowledge acquisition or skill development. Public educators, from pre-K to college, are gifted with the opportunity to shape lives, influence values and give voice to ideals. Our working conditions extend far beyond the classroom walls, as do a student's learning conditions. The physical and psychological harm that the Trump administration's immigration policies inflict on our communities directly impedes our ability to succeed in this work. Mass deportation rips parents from their citizen children, leaving youth homeless, hungry and sometimes hopeless. Moreover, the psychological warfare of these policies has a sweeping effect, hampering the conditions necessary for learning to occur.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" has long been applied to pedagogical theory and utilized throughout teacher training programs. In short, Maslow argues that the conditions for learning require that a students' physiological needs, safety needs, community needs be met. In other words, a student cannot be hungry, cold, pained, or scared (ie. experience a raid; experience the threat of a raid; encounter images, in person or in media, of fathers and daughters drowned at the border; endure the images of children sleeping in cages) if learning is to occur.
Solidarity is not only built in anticipation of a contract fight; it is a constant element of being an educator and a union member. As such, I am calling on Randi Weingarten and The American Federation of Teachers, to assist in the coordination of national protests and mobilize membership in response to the ongoing crisis at the border.
Together, let us carry the torch reignited by the CTU and the UTLA to illuminate the collective imagination and the bold dream for justice.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
During their 2012 strike, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) popularized the slogan "Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions." CTU demonstrated the necessity of genuine solidarity and cleared the way for the return of social justice unionism. They stood shoulder to shoulder with students, parents and community members to fight school closures, racial inequality, and the privatization of public education. Writing for Jacobin Magazine, Micah Uetricht summarizes the significance of CTU's approach, "When a union like the CTU can establish itself as a body that fights not just for its members' own narrow interests but for the entire working class, it can become the vehicle for a much broader leftist agenda." In short, it can affect change beyond the confines of the contract; it can deliver a broader slice of justice.
Teacher's working conditions are students' learning conditions. The United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) understood this when they launched a strike earlier this year, winning not only pay increases and smaller class sizes but also an end to "stop and frisk" policies within the schools and the addition of an immigrant defense fund to support undocumented families. In these instances, education unions have embraced the interests of the entire working class, and in doing so, they have helped unleash a collective imagination that has raised the expectations of communities everywhere.
That collective imagination, that boldness to dream, is exactly what is needed in this moment of national crisis when families and children are being detained at the border, kept in squalid conditions and held, in what Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rightly calls, concentration camps.
The physical and psychological harm that the Trump administration's immigration policies inflict on our communities directly impedes our ability to succeed in this work.
Being an educator is about more than raising test scores, supporting knowledge acquisition or skill development. Public educators, from pre-K to college, are gifted with the opportunity to shape lives, influence values and give voice to ideals. Our working conditions extend far beyond the classroom walls, as do a student's learning conditions. The physical and psychological harm that the Trump administration's immigration policies inflict on our communities directly impedes our ability to succeed in this work. Mass deportation rips parents from their citizen children, leaving youth homeless, hungry and sometimes hopeless. Moreover, the psychological warfare of these policies has a sweeping effect, hampering the conditions necessary for learning to occur.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" has long been applied to pedagogical theory and utilized throughout teacher training programs. In short, Maslow argues that the conditions for learning require that a students' physiological needs, safety needs, community needs be met. In other words, a student cannot be hungry, cold, pained, or scared (ie. experience a raid; experience the threat of a raid; encounter images, in person or in media, of fathers and daughters drowned at the border; endure the images of children sleeping in cages) if learning is to occur.
Solidarity is not only built in anticipation of a contract fight; it is a constant element of being an educator and a union member. As such, I am calling on Randi Weingarten and The American Federation of Teachers, to assist in the coordination of national protests and mobilize membership in response to the ongoing crisis at the border.
Together, let us carry the torch reignited by the CTU and the UTLA to illuminate the collective imagination and the bold dream for justice.
During their 2012 strike, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) popularized the slogan "Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions." CTU demonstrated the necessity of genuine solidarity and cleared the way for the return of social justice unionism. They stood shoulder to shoulder with students, parents and community members to fight school closures, racial inequality, and the privatization of public education. Writing for Jacobin Magazine, Micah Uetricht summarizes the significance of CTU's approach, "When a union like the CTU can establish itself as a body that fights not just for its members' own narrow interests but for the entire working class, it can become the vehicle for a much broader leftist agenda." In short, it can affect change beyond the confines of the contract; it can deliver a broader slice of justice.
Teacher's working conditions are students' learning conditions. The United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) understood this when they launched a strike earlier this year, winning not only pay increases and smaller class sizes but also an end to "stop and frisk" policies within the schools and the addition of an immigrant defense fund to support undocumented families. In these instances, education unions have embraced the interests of the entire working class, and in doing so, they have helped unleash a collective imagination that has raised the expectations of communities everywhere.
That collective imagination, that boldness to dream, is exactly what is needed in this moment of national crisis when families and children are being detained at the border, kept in squalid conditions and held, in what Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rightly calls, concentration camps.
The physical and psychological harm that the Trump administration's immigration policies inflict on our communities directly impedes our ability to succeed in this work.
Being an educator is about more than raising test scores, supporting knowledge acquisition or skill development. Public educators, from pre-K to college, are gifted with the opportunity to shape lives, influence values and give voice to ideals. Our working conditions extend far beyond the classroom walls, as do a student's learning conditions. The physical and psychological harm that the Trump administration's immigration policies inflict on our communities directly impedes our ability to succeed in this work. Mass deportation rips parents from their citizen children, leaving youth homeless, hungry and sometimes hopeless. Moreover, the psychological warfare of these policies has a sweeping effect, hampering the conditions necessary for learning to occur.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" has long been applied to pedagogical theory and utilized throughout teacher training programs. In short, Maslow argues that the conditions for learning require that a students' physiological needs, safety needs, community needs be met. In other words, a student cannot be hungry, cold, pained, or scared (ie. experience a raid; experience the threat of a raid; encounter images, in person or in media, of fathers and daughters drowned at the border; endure the images of children sleeping in cages) if learning is to occur.
Solidarity is not only built in anticipation of a contract fight; it is a constant element of being an educator and a union member. As such, I am calling on Randi Weingarten and The American Federation of Teachers, to assist in the coordination of national protests and mobilize membership in response to the ongoing crisis at the border.
Together, let us carry the torch reignited by the CTU and the UTLA to illuminate the collective imagination and the bold dream for justice.