i spent some time with my anarchist brother this weekend. he has some good points, but at what cost? we the teachers are the frontlines in this war on ignorance/poverty/hate/terror and probably have the most power to change the system, should we so choose. however, as mrs lovejoy likes to point out "what about the children? won't somebody please think of the children?" how many of us can go out and organize a movement and still effectively serve our students? b/c where do our priorities and responsiblitites lie? to ourselves and to our students. i can't always tear down the system(and an ineffective system it is) and build my students up at the same time. i can promote those ideas and philosophies that will promote change and i can change what it is in my direct power to change, but i can't go march on washington to protest NCLB when i need to be in my classroom for my students b/c i am the only regularly scheduled appearance that they can rely on. no. the world won't end if i am not in my classroom one or more days, but my physical presence in my classroom provides structure and boundary to kids who don't get a lot of either thing. i had a conversation with my other brother who is also a teacher recently that brought this point home: his district is probably going on strike soon. the schools in the city where i live went on strike last year. i had a brief conversation with a target cashier about it one day and recounted the conversation to my teacher brother: the gist of it was, that this woman thinks the teachers/schools have enough money and it was a major inconvienance for her that her kids couldn't go to school. my brother asked if i told her to eff off, which shocked me a little, but as he pointed out, people assume and the people are mostly right, that teachers won't strike or do similiar things b/c of the children and our responsibilities to the children. but how many of us can afford to teach out of the goodness of our hearts? and just how fucked up is the system? how much raging against the machine is required? how can i rage and still fulfill my responsibilities to my kids? i also didn't tell the cashier to eff off b/c i was not about to tell someone who was clearly not in my socio-economic bracket that teachers need more money. i know we get paid *** for being college educated professionals, but i'm sure i make more than this woman who is an hourly wage-slave cashier at target.for a better comparison to someone on a salary i KNOW i make more money(about 8K more) than my last store manager at starbucks--but she worked her way up through the company and has no college. now, my latest manager is an external higher with college who has worked solely as a store manager and has been with the company as long as i have been teaching. it would be interesting to see what he makes.