The Chicago teachers’ strike has sparked interest and debate far beyond the school district. Folks outside the education field are weighing in on how much teachers should earn, how much responsibility teachers should bear for declining tests scores, and the greed of unions. Some experts even predicted the nation’s union-busting eyes were on Chicago, predicting a possible ripple-effect depending upon the outcome.
For many outside the negotiations, opinions, tempers and solutions ran amok. Schools of thought ran from, teachers make too much for just nine months work to unions protect bad teachers to teachers are responsible for low test performance. Perusing the social media, it was easy to find suggestions of what the ideal and fair teacher’s compensation should be, all by nonteachers, of course.