Flipping burgers and school reform

Fast-food workers are striking today throughout the US. Tweets are flying with new hashtags announcing strike actions. While it’s unscientific, I grant, to judge anything just by twitter activity, I’m impressed by the reach of the strike, including the South (Durham, NC) and small depressed cities in the Northeast (my hometown, Wilmington, DE), as well as big cities in the West (like Denver). Chicago has lots going on, with considerable support by the Chicago Teachers Union.

                        This struggle is going to change kids’ lives. While what we do in our classrooms “counts” it isn’t the one “true path” out of poverty, as Arne Duncan says.  School reform Is not a substitute for creating good jobs.

                        Stop by a (ubiquitous) fast-food restaurant today and tell the workers you support their struggle for a living wage. If you’re a teacher, let them know that you think a living wage will do more for kids than the money being poured into testing, testing, testing and the reforms making teaching more like flipping burgers than touching kids’ lives.