Blog #7

Just 3 days ago U.S. News wrote a report on the Teachers strike in West Virginia. This strike began last Tuesday, but they are just the first. There are news reports that say later in the week schools in Oakland, California are planning to go forward with this strike. The article states that the reason for these strikes is “as much about the structure of our school system and services for our students as it is about a living wage for educators” The problems they are hoping to resolve all revolve around the funding for charter schools (public schools that are run with the freedom to act independently). These schools lack government funding because they do not strictly follow the government guidelines for typical public schools in the districts, yet they are not private schools and cannot charge the students any tuition to attend, so there is not enough, or not constant funding going into these types of schools and their programs. The superintendent of one of these West Virginia school districts is hoping that 

I believe that all students and academic programs deserve equal and proper funding. If there is a public school receiving funding for their activities, or higher pay for teachers then any charter school deserves these benefits. This should be about helping the teachers and students, because the more invested a teacher is the more students will benefit and that should be the ultimate goal of any educational program. I don’t doubt that they do their best to achieve this goal, but when there are very limited resources, due to the lack of funding, teachers can only provide so much for their student. Charter schools will typically be specialized for subjects such as math or sciences, or others focus on students who have a particularly difficult time learning the same way their peers do. These are schools that form the education around the capabilities of these students, and if the government does not open their eyes to the fact that not all students learn the same way or at the same rate then they are holding back so many kids from their fullest potential. These teachers have every right to be striking on this issue as I am sure they watch some of their students really struggle with the materials, or some who are getting the hang of it so well that they need to be challenged and pushed to reach their fullest potential. (Word Count: 412)