Saul Alinsky – JC Bowman

Strike Out in Tennessee

March 18, 2019April 22, 2021 by JC Bowman, posted in JC Bowman, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Unions, Workforce

I have never been an advocate of strikes, particularly in the public sector. Beginning last year, and in recent days, several media outlets have contacted our organization about “teacher strikes” in Tennessee. Members of our organization have always believed that educators have the right to teach without being forced to join any particular organization, and that strikes or work stoppages are detrimental to children, parents, the community and the profession.

Strikes are rooted in the erroneous Machiavellian belief that the end justifies the means, it is also emphasized in the works by Saul Alinsky. Most educators understand the important role that our public schools play in society. In many cases, public schools offer the critical support necessary to maintain student health, nutrition, and safety, including students with severe intellectual disabilities and serious health conditions. This includes many children living in poverty, and those who are homeless. Professional activists and agitators that urge educators in our state to strike do not care about these children, and truth be told, have little concern for the professionals in our classrooms.

The former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, an ex-union organizer wrote in a Washington Post editorial that a teacher strike hurts families and kids. He said: “under today’s circumstances, a strike isn’t what we need to improve our schools.” He is correct. A strike is a throwback to an archaic factory model of governance. More importantly, public servants usually have a higher expectation associated with their trusted role. Governing magazine’s Heather Kerrigan points out: “Teachers, firefighters, and police are the public workers who people feel a lot of empathy for because of the challenges of their job.” She adds: “I think that public opinion and tolerance level for public-employee strikes is probably fairly low.”

So, as you read or hear buzzwords like “collective action,” “sickout” or “strike,” remember that it is critical we avoid alienating the public. The old expression rings true: “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” However, we can and must inform citizens through a more positive means about significant issues impacting our public schools and the children we serve. Educators do need to be more vocal about spending priorities at the federal, state and local levels. It is why educator associations like ours are vital, and why we have been engaged in the debate.

Tennessee has made tremendous investments in public education in the last decade. Not including new investments projected by Governor Bill Lee in his new budget, Tennessee added $1.5 billion in new dollars to public education from 2011 to 2019 under Governor Bill Haslam. There is still much more work to do. We must continue to invest in our educators and teacher assistants, and critical school staff, making sure those dollars reach their pockets. We must work to reduce testing and give districts other options to measure student achievement. We still need to work to create a simpler and more fair evaluation system. We must address student discipline issues that are spiraling out of control. We survey our members on a regular basis and these are issues of importance across the state according to educators in Tennessee.

However, it really does not matter our opinion about strikes: Teacher Strikes have been illegal in our state according to Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) since 1978. In TCA 49-5-606., Unlawful Acts include that it is illegal for educators to engage in a strike. In addition, it is illegal to urge, coerce or encourage others to engage in unlawful acts as defined in this part. The next section of the law 49-5-60., Strikes – Remedies offers more clarity:When local boards of education have determined which employees have engaged in or participated in a strike, the employees may be subject to dismissal and, further, shall forfeit their claim to tenure status, if they have attained tenure, and shall revert to probationary status for the next five-year period. Any professional employee who engaged in, or participated in, a strike and who is not a tenured teacher may also be subject to dismissal.

Public education in Tennessee wins when we all work together through civil discourse to address our considerable issues. Education is the great equalizer for all children in the state. Passionate and effective teachers, principals, and superintendents must lead with creative solutions to problems, and not with outworn strategies from the industrial age. In the 21st-century, we must be policy driven, mindful of economic concerns, providing realistic answers to difficult challenges. Adversarial tactics spurred on by outside groups, with dubious agendas, simply will not benefit Tennessee educators or children.

JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the association are properly cited. For more information on this subject or any education issue please contact Professional Educators of Tennessee.

Chaos is a Ladder

May 9, 2018April 22, 2021 by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, JC Bowman, Leadership, Legislation, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Unions

Alinsky-Littlefinger_840x480

I am unapologetically a fan of the HBO series Game of Thrones. In the episode, “The Climb,” the overly ambitious character, Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger, played masterfully by Aiden Gillen, delivers a speech that is eerily reminiscent of Saul Alinsky:

“Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb; they cling to the realm or the gods or love. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.”

Essentially, Littlefinger is supporting a moral code that says everyone ought to be out for themselves. The only purpose in life is to gain power. Sound familiar? Power can only be accumulated through chaos, by using upheaval to rearrange things so that you gain power. The speech reads like a paragraph out of Rules for Radicals, with the word chaos replacing the word conflict. Issues such as patriotism, love, religious faith – are all things to be denigrated.

For Littlefinger, a character loathed by most fans, the tearing of the realm can create opportunities. For people who subscribe to his, or Alinsky’s theories on accumulating power for the sake of accumulating power, what is there left to rule over when you have destroyed the world? In 1972 as Alinsky was questioned by Playboy, the interviewer asked him: “Do you believe in any kind of afterlife?” Alinsky said if there was an afterlife he would “unreservedly choose to go to hell.” And while further explaining his answer: “Once I get into hell, I’ll start organizing…”

Emma Goldman, an anarchist in the first half of the twentieth century declared, “Religion, the dominion of the human mind; Property, the dominion of human needs; and Government, the dominion of human conduct, represent the stronghold of man’s enslavement and all the horrors it entails.” That radical response, which is embraced by Marxists, should be alarming to those in our country.

The levels of hypocrisy of most, who seek conflict, rather than attainable solutions to issues facing people, are rarely confronted. People should not be afraid to talk about their beliefs, stick up for those in the faith community who are under attack, and call out bigotry whenever or wherever we find it. When you want chaos or conflict, your goal is to continue the creation of problems, not find solutions to real problems. And if problems do not exist, you make them up. That is why some organizations and institutions are increasingly losing members, support and influence.

For example, in our organization and on a personal level we try to map-out a path toward a viable and sustainable solution on issues facing our members. Just recently, we were made aware of school district that had too many students in their class for a teacher. Our solution was not to go to the media and have the school district on the defense. We didn’t get on the school board agenda, and send letters to our members to embarrass the Superintendent. We simply called and talked to the Central Office. The problem was resolved in 5 minutes. The Director of Schools was simply unaware of the issue. That is leadership, and it doesn’t have to be built on pointless or unnecessary conflict.

Resolving issues is about people working together to resolve legitimate concerns. There are no hidden agendas when you build a culture motivated upon collaboration and problem solving. As an organization, our beliefs are practical and non-partisan, consisting of rational people across a broad political spectrum who will focus on solutions for our members. A solid strategy is critical in order to solve any problem. If your problem-solving creates chaos, that is a sign of a serious leadership problem. This never-ending cycle is not conducive to the adversity most people face. Solving problems consist of the transparent exchange of ideas, where the concerns and points of view of all people are freely expressed, not just those of the militant minority.

To relate this to my field of public education, we have to engage parents and taxpayers more on the great challenges we face. We cannot engage in frivolous lawsuits against our own school districts and expect Boards of Education to be responsive to legitimate concerns. Public education fails, when Alinsky tactics win. It isn’t hard to figure that out. We must work together.

In a Game of Thrones episode from this past season, “The Spoils of War,” Bran Stark perhaps mockingly uses Littlefinger’s own words against him: “Chaos is a ladder.” This statement reveals that Bran understood the very heart of a master manipulator Petyr Baelish. He knows that Littlefinger is a self-centered, promoter of himself, more interested in power-plays and schemes, and being deceptive.

Petyr Baelish, will never hear the announcement, “Littlefinger, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm.” He may be organizing hell with Alinsky, still in the middle of chaos—and there is no ladder there.

Beyond Alinsky

May 7, 2018April 22, 2021 by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, Bullying, Educators, JC Bowman, Leadership, Legislation, Tennessee Education, Unions

Alinsky-dedication

There is no doubt that the “community organizing” methods and philosophy developed by Saul Alinsky have had a penetrating effect on our politics. However, has it made government more responsive or improved results for citizens? That is highly doubtful.

What happens when Saul Alinsky and his tactics do not go far enough for you?

We are probably about to find out. There are seemingly no longer limits to acceptable behavior in society, no moral conscience for some people and Alinsky’s radical “methods” are now the new normal. Combined with the usual Orwellian double-speak from those trained in Alinsky tactics. They can attract the gullible.

Alinsky famously referenced his admiration for Lucifer in his book Rules for Radicals. I really do not care to speculate what the motivation was; it is in front of the book. Alinsky adhered to a Marxist ideology. People should read Rules for Radicals for themselves. Some of the rules that are often cited, and are subsequently employed regularly are:

“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”
“If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

The objective of most community organizers is to inject politics into every issue, every debate. It is dangerous to induce immoral and scrupulous tactics solely for political gain for the “militant minority.” One overarching goal is never-ending conflict. They simply move from issue to issue.

The reaction community organizers seek: is to identify activists, who can build a larger, more robust militant minority within organizations they control. This warped strategy leaves the majority of people in organizations impacted by community organizers pushing this radical agenda underserved. This approach is why so many labor unions are dying, as they only exist to serve the excessively bureaucratic union leadership. This leadership often encompasses a socialist agenda at odds with a majority of the members.

The question for all of us, is how far is too far? In the world of Alinsky, “organizing” is simply the revolution. Who leads the revolution? The community organizers who control the radicals/militant minority will be the leaders. And for many, Alinsky is just a stepping stone for the next wave of issues that will emerge. And the organizer knows that there can be no action until those “issues are polarized.” There is no solution possible, when conflict never ends.