As Oklahoma approaches the THIRD day of teacher walkouts across the state, many citizens are finding it’s not so much the actual walkout – although this itself is hard on parents and students so close to the end of the year – it’s the behavior of some of the participants that’s most distressing.
This morning I talked to a legislative assistant I know. I asked her how things were going for her at the Capitol and she told me that her legislator’s office was constantly packed with people and that the noise in the halls was deafening. She said her time was often interrupted by chanting breaking out in the hall.
“A group of teachers came into the office behind a group who was being loud and obnoxious,” she said. “As they walked in, a woman from the group behind leaned over and whispered to me, “We’re not with them”.
I feel for the teachers who don’t really want to be at the capitol – or who want to be there to learn – or because they feel it’s their duty to support their school. It has to be more than a bit frustrating to be lumped together with people for whom the whole experience is an activism exercise. 