Some Thoughts on the Anniversary of an Attack

NMB, Florida December 7, 2001, A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF AN ATTACK

On December 7, 1941 I was in Shiff Reservation, a Boy Scout camp in the
hills of northern New Jersey. The other boys and I did not learn about the
attack on Pearl harbor until we got back home. There were no transistor
radios in those days. I had no idea that the quasi-military education the
Scouts had given me would be so helpful to me later in the Service. I
survived after enlisting at 17 in the Army four years later. The Navy, my
first choice, refused my offer because I wore glasses.

In those times the perfidy of enemies - the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy
and Japan - clearly delineated the differences between them and the Allies,
mostly democracies. So the war to make the world free for democracy was
fought and won. It seems that times change and democracy still needs help.
Today in the newspaper I find that I am in the company of "old" men who were
in Pearl Harbor the day of the Japanese attack. We have all grown old since
those days and each day fewer remain.

I also note that teachers are again being put in jail in my home state of
New Jersey. In Middletown, famous for its speed traps along Highway 35,
striking teachers are jailed because they are on strike. They make them
strip and wash with laundry soap.

I think that teachers should have the same rights as other WORKERS. They
are ranked as professionals by education but treated as lower than
blue-collar laborers. At least the strikes by the latter are understood
better than the demands of teachers (you know, don't you, they get the
summers off and go on expensive vacations?) for parity and better salaries
and benefits. Cities and towns with better pay and benefits draw off the
better teachers. It is sad to note that good teaching is not respected -
teachers are "Public Servants". Such people are expected to do more and get
less.

In the United States where I was born, bred and educated and worked I have
been a teacher who picketed Newark City Hall for the right to bargain
collectively. When that right was passed into law years later the town
where I lived, Woodbridge Township, turned its back on teachers and watched
with glee as teacher's union leaders were put in jail. The event was marked
by one of the survivors of incarceration repeating the words of a small-time
inmate who said, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." Good
advice but bad law to ask a lot of teachers but not to give them the right
to bargain with school boards. The system pits teachers against parents who
do not want their children home where they will have the responsibility of
entertaining them. If "education" is a "right" this is what some parents
seem to believe.

I participated in and led one strike against my employer, Monmouth College.
We won but lost at the same time. We won a contract but found that the
employer always wins. They control the money and money is where the power
is. Carol's Evaluation:10.