Oregon's Chalkboard Project Alters Union Imagery While Promoting Pro-Business Agenda

At the top left of this blog page, I have borrowed the classic clenched fist image that was created by the Industrial Workers of the World circa 1917. The Wobblies' intention with this image was clear and powerful--through solidarity workers would achieve a political might far beyond what the individual would ever be capable of accomplishing. The clenched fist image helped to define the IWW cause and over the years it became symbolic of collective activism especially when it involved the causes of the far left. The clenched fist image became pivotal in the civil rights movement especially for the movement's radical contingencies like the Black Panthers. In recent years, the clenched fist image has manifested itself yet again in the symbolism of the radical environmental group Earth First.

Bearing this history in mind, I was a little shocked this morning to find a large advertisement being run in the Oregonian newspaper for the education reform group "The Chalkboard Project." In this advertisement, the classic image is morphed into a fist that clenches a pencil and it is accompanied by the words "Power to the Teacher." It is clear that the Chalkboard Project's advertisement is making a call to action, but the actions and political motives of the Chalkboard Project make their invocation of radical iconography a bit troublesome. In short, either the group's communication team needs a history lesson or they are plainly deceptive and need to be monitored closely.

As for my background, I am not blindly opposed to the mission of the Chalkboard Project. One of the group's primary goals is to shed light on the education funding crisis that exists in the state of Oregon. I view this goal as not only laudable but necessary. It is in approach to this problem where we differ. The Chalkboard Project, similar to most Democratic politicians in Oregon, refuses to earnestly take on the daunting task of reforming the state's tax system (no sales tax+ remarkably low property taxes when compared to the New Jerseys of the world= one of the lowest per pupil spending rates in the nation. ) Instead, the Chalkboard Project has sought to fill in some of the gaps in funding through private philanthropy and business partnerships. Once again, for most educators in Oregon, any money is good money, but the Chalkboard Project has not been open enough about the amount of baggage their business connections bring to the table.

The Chalkboard Project has the support of numerous educators with good intentions. Unfortunately, these supporters fail to recognize the extent to which their decision making is influenced by what New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman coined in the 1990's as the "Golden Straitjacket." In short, the notion of the "Golden Straitjacket" holds that politicians, decision-makers, etc... have come to accept economic incentives as fundamental, competition as spiritual, and the free market as a cure-all to the extent that they are now caught in the "golden straitjacket" and incapable of making informed decisions based on their own supposed core values. The Chalkboard Project and its business allies find themselves especially stifled by the golden straitjacket as they propose one of their key reforms--the use of pay for performance and merit pay as a means to revolutionize public education.

Pay for performance and merit pay brings a whole new light to the Oregonian advertisement. These market incentive reforms have their basis in the idea that an individual teacher will find his or her worth in the public school on an individual basis. I will get paid what I am worth and the rest of the teachers will have to compete to get what they are worth. Many Americans, fully limited by the golden straitjacket, find appeal in this perspective, but it must be noted that there is no perspective that could be farther from the intent of the IWW clenched fist image. The accompanying statement in the advertisement--"Power to the Teacher"---further emphasizes this. This is a singular teacher. This is not the group working together to shoulder the burden and improve public schools. This is one individual finding his worth on his own terms. The Chalkboard Project's fist image may as well be the hand of J.P Morgan or Rupert Murdoch because it is certainly not from a Wobblie.