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Chicago IVAW Stands in Solidarity with Chicago Teachers Union

By Sabrina Waller

Singapore and Denmark are two nations that produce some of the best educational outcomes. In both cases, their teachers are paid as handsomely as their doctors. In short, you get what you pay for. I served in the United States Navy from 1998 to 2003. The Navy's slogan is "A Global Force for Good." We have a Navy of global proportions because we have made it a priority and have spent the requisite funds for such a force. We currently spend annually on our military more than all nations with military budgets combined. We have the biggest and strongest military in the world because we pay for it. We spend around 640 billion dollars on the Pentagon annually, yet the 2013 federal budget only asks for 47 billion dollars for education. That is why the US is ranked 14th out of the 34 most developed countries in education. What would the US look like if those figures were reversed? What if the Pentagon got 47 billion dollars a year and the Department of Education got 640 billion a year? Our children would be the smartest in the world and our military could achieve parity with everyone else. I have served in the military and I am the mother a twelve-year-old. I can tell you unequivocally that I would rather see my tax dollars go towards my son's education than to the military I served any day. How many schools are sub-standard because we deemed it more important to buy 187 F-22 Raptors (the most expensive and technologically advanced fighter jet to have never been used in combat)? This strike is not about politics, money, testing, class sizes, benefits, or anything else. It is about American priorities. Today's America prioritizes militarism, not education. Until our priorities are reversed, we can plan on bequeathing a lesser future to our children than the one we inherited from our parents. In other words, we can kiss the American Dream goodbye.

P.S. Just because I said it, does make it true. If I could reach out to Chicago Public School students, I would encourage them to look up these numbers and determine if they are more or less correct. They have a greater stake in this game than we do. They will be competing against nations that truly invest in their future (nations like Singapore and Denmark). These figures should offend them just as much as us. They should be angry that we invest more in warfare than in them.

Editor's note: The strike by the Chicago Teachers Union was settled and the students in the Chicago Public School system returned to classes on Wednesday 19 September 2012.

Sabrina Waller is a member of IVAW Chicago.