While I am not long on solutions I do have ideas that could create activity and lead to solutions. My political nature has been hinted at in earlier posts. I do not pretend to be an expert in any way but I have seen what can and cannot work. Unfortunately, the easy stuff (complaining, name-calling, blaming, etc…), aside from sometimes making our egos feel a bit better, ultimately produce few results.
In order to produce effective change we have to do more. Voting isn’t enough anymore. Thomas Jefferson spoke of what he envisioned as the “office of citizen”. Here are some of his quotes on the subject. As teachers and members of our communities we have a responsibility to do this and to teach this. Regardless of the discipline, our goal as teachers should be to facilitate this growth within our students.
Some of this is a complete re-hash and I totally understand that. Teachers have been organizing and fighting for their students and their profession decades before I was born. I do have some deep roots in the culture as you can see from the photos.
I have to say I rocked that yellow poncho with my mother and thousands of other teachers, students, parents, principals, and community leaders, as we marched at the state capitol for the passage of HB 1017. The remnants of that political era are all but gone. The problems we intended to fix are still around, and in many cases worse.
For much wiser commentary on the fiscal, administrative, and legislative side of these issues I will ALWAYS defer to those who understand it much better than I. I would be remiss if I didn’t direct any readers of this towards their counsel as well. Between Rob Miller, Rick Cobb and Claudia Swisher, The matters are very well covered and I cannot thank them enough for their work.
As for the ideas, well, I’ve always got some of those. I want to propose something. As teachers, parents, and citizens, the legislators in Oklahoma City are our servants. Their responsibility is to ensure our state government is operating, and the people of Oklahoma are served by their government. This is not an easy order, and I do not want to pretend their job is simple. But there are times it seems like they forget we are a part of their constituency. This is somewhat our fault as we have become complacent and are just “too busy” to pay attention. We have to re-engage and remind those that have forgotten what our profession means to this state and its future.
It begins with simple actions. Everyone in the state of Oklahoma can go here, type in your address and find your State Legislator. You have two, get to know about them, then get to know them. They have emails, postal addresses and phone numbers. Use them. Get to know them personally and professionally. Don’t ambush them in an attempt to create a “gotcha” moment, take the time to make time. Show them how important this is by making an appointment or sending a personal communication. This isn’t easy, but it’s what we are going to have to do.
This can’t just be teachers either. Parents, students, grandparents, neighbors, business leaders (they want smart employees, I would think) can all help out here. We have engaged students and parents. Let’s get them involved. Ask them for their help. This is something they all can do and it is remarkably simple.
If you have a personal relationship with any of your state legislators, please make them aware of how personal and important education is. We are not a lobby that can influence with money but we can with numbers. I know many of us have already done this, but we have to keep at it.
We have to make an effort with everyone, never underestimate the power of personal stories and relationships. Session starts in a month or so, take a few minutes to start the process. This is one thing WE ALL can do, so let’s take the opportunity and make some new friends…
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