As we celebrate how our Fair Share victory is improving public schools and colleges, as we honor the locals that went on strike in part to win living wages for ESPs, and as we push forward a ballot campaign to end the high-stakes graduation test, the value of public education has never been clearer.
As a union, we are taking on the punitive, high-stakes impacts of the MCAS. This standardized test has undermined the pursuit of a rich, whole-child education all of our children deserve. Our ballot initiative is built on the fundamental belief that educators, and not tests, produce a high-quality education.
Consider your own role as educators and experience as students.
My own public education, provided to me free of charge by the people of this state, is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
In fact, the public school system is one of the greatest institutions our nation has built. We should be especially proud that it was Massachusetts that pioneered the idea that every child deserves a publicly funded education. The proposition is breathtakingly simple: You live here, so you get to go to school here. Because as a member of our community you deserve an education. When students are educated, we all live better lives.
It is so easy to forget how radical an idea that was and is: That schools should educate every student that walks through the door, period. I know that it also shapes how you think of yourselves – as public servants, educating children and young adults for the common good.
These are some of the broader reasons why I celebrate public schools. But I’ll share with you some specific reasons why I love the Amherst public schools and appreciate how they shaped me:
At Wildwood School, I learned from Ms. Klaes, Mr. Ciesluk, Mr. McNamara, Ms. Rothenberg, and my favorite paraprofessional, Ms. Aldrich, essential things such as reading, writing and tying my shoes.
From Phil Crafts – a science teacher and baseball coach in middle school – I learned about nature and how to field a ground ball.
Mrs. Kohler forced me to write my first serious social studies paper in eighth grade, and Mr. Gerstein showed me why we need to care about getting history right. It’s no accident that I, and a half-dozen of my classmates, became historians.
At Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, Mr. Fonsh taught me about capitalism and socialism, and how to fight for justice.
Then there was Mr. Maggs, the longtime chorale director, who treated teenagers like adults. The result: we created music well beyond our years, and we learned that horizons were meant to be expanded. I still remember every word of Carl Orff’s "Carmina Burana," which we sang in 1983. Yes, we made beautiful music in chorale. But we also learned to respect the range of abilities each person brings to a community.
We learned about teamwork. In chorale it was ludicrous to think that any individual could bring everyone up or down. Only together did we achieve greatness. In that room, as gangly teenagers, we experienced achievements far beyond what society expected or told us was possible.
As you can tell from my memories, it all came down to people: the educators who taught me, and at the same time modeled what competent and fulfilling adulthood looked like.
Like many of the students you all have carried from childhood to the cusp of adulthood, I cannot imagine my life – my job, but also my passions and my outlook, my political pursuits, and my personal commitments – without the educators of the Amherst public schools. Your students, in every district in the Commonwealth, are lucky – I’ll even say they are blessed – to be able to attend the public schools you make great.
Max Page, MTA President
