Two stories this week caught my attention. Although I think
I’m better informed about world events than most Americans – admittedly not a
very high bar – I can’t make sense out of what is happening in Iraq. The nation
the US invaded and occupied is disintegrating, that much is clear, and when the
dust settles there will be winners and losers; from a geopolitical and regional
point of view, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the US and Israel all have skin in this game.
America counts Saudi Arabia among its allies and turns a blind eye when the
Saudis funnel money or arms to religious fanatics whose interests don’t exactly
dovetail with ours. Oil trumps morality. Average Iraqi’s will lose big, of
course, as they did during the American occupation. The artificial borders
established after World War I by European powers may be scrambled or erased
altogether. If it hasn’t happened already, weaponry and equipment left behind
by the Americans will fall into the wrong hands. Hawkish American politicians
like John McCain are already roaring that President Obama is to blame for
everything and should grow a spine and launch the warplanes. The petty tyrant
the US backed to run the new Iraq will probably flee the country – unless he is
hung from a lamppost first. It’s a colossal mess. The US may find itself on
Iran’s side before long which will be very awkward since elements in the
government and Israel have been thumping the war drum against Iran for years
now.
During the occupation, as I recall, much was made of how the
Americans were training Iraqis to protect themselves and hold the nation
together. Didn’t work out.
***
The second story that got my attention was the recent ruling
in a Los Angeles court that job protections for public school teachers are
unconstitutional. This is the latest battle in the long war on public
education. Teachers have proved reliable scapegoats for well- organized and
funded interests seeking to dismantle the public education system in favor of
for-profit models, charter schools and whatnot. We don’t demonize firefighters
or police officers (even when they shoot innocent people) or stage actors or
any other unionized workers the way we do teachers. The issue isn’t teachers
themselves as much as it is the political strength of the unions that represent
them. Neoliberals freak out when workers have any power at all.
Do incompetent teachers exist? Yes, of course, I wouldn’t
argue otherwise. In every profession and walk of life, you find great
performers, average performers, and bad performers. I would guess that in any
public school district, ten to twenty percent of teachers have no business
being in the trade. In economically distressed cities and towns the number is
likely higher. My own children have had teachers whose competence I questioned,
but these are a distinct minority. The fact is that most teachers I know are
dedicated to their profession and desperate for students to learn; they don’t
like standardized testing or cookie-cutter, dumbed down textbooks, or other
formulas that are forced on them by bureaucrats. They care about kids and want
the best for them.
Public education is one of the most successful American
ideas ever hatched and deserves to be strengthened rather than starved,
supported rather than vilified and blamed for social ills caused by four
decades of misguided neoliberal economic policies. The root problem isn’t
pedagogy – it’s poverty.
***
Finally, on this Father’s Day, I tip my glass of Guinness
toward my father, Pete, who died in 1990 at the age of 57. Pete was a good guy,
but he drank and smoked too much, abused himself and paid the price. He missed
out on seeing his grandchildren. I think he would get a kick out of them.
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