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Remarks, as prepared for Reg Weaver, President, National Education
Association
Wisconsin Education Association Council Summer Academy
Baraboo, WI, July 27, 2003
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What's for lunch? Reg Weaver shared this revealing story with Summer Academy participants In an effort to add diversity to the work force, five cannibals
were appointed as consultants in a large school district. During
the welcoming ceremony the superintendent says, "You're all
part of our team now. You can earn good money here, and you can
go to the cafeteria for something to eat. So please don't trouble
any of the other employees". The cannibals promised. Four weeks later the boss returns and says, "You're all working very hard, and I'm very satisfied with all of you. However, one of our janitors has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to him?" The cannibals all shake their heads no. After the boss has left, the leader of the cannibals says to the others: "Which of you idiots ate the janitor?" A hand raises hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals replies: "You fool! For four weeks we've been eating Program Coordinators,
Assistant Superintendents and Project Managers, and no one noticed
anything, and you have to go and eat the janitor!" |
Thank you, Stan! I can't tell you how pleased I am to see so many people
here today ready to support public education, and our great Association!
- Especially when I know that you could have been in many other places,
but you chose to be here - you chose to take the time to make a stronger
WEAC, and I appreciate your dedication!
I really want you to think of this summer leadership conference as part
of your mental tune-up - the preventive maintenance you and your members
need to be the driving force of change in your schools and in your communities.
This is your time to build and strengthen relationships. This is your
time and your space to stimulate your most critical and creative thinking
and problem-solving skills.
This is crucial, WEAC! If we are to be successful in our aim to achieve
adequate and equitable funding for all schools; ensure compensation that
reflects our worth; and realize our dream of a quality education for every
child; then we will need all of the critical thinking, creativity and
energy that you can muster!
And you can do this when you recognize and develop the strengths of your
team - I call it TEAM NEA. And Team NEA starts with all the work you do
locally … at the grassroots.
Let me share with you a familiar story. It is the story of the tortoise
and the hare.
You remember the story: The hare boasted that he could win a race against
the tortoise.
They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead
and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the
tortoise, the hare sat underneath a tree to relax before continuing the
race. As he sat under the tree, relaxing, his "I'll just rest my
eyes" moment soon became deep slumber.
The tortoise, plodding on, waddled right by the hare and finished the
race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized
that he'd lost the race.
The moral: "Slow and steady wins the race."
Now I know what you're thinking - Reg, we KNEW that already! But the
story doesn't end here!
The hare, so disappointed to have lost the race, did some soul-searching.
"If I hadn't been overconfident, careless and lax, I would have won the race," he thought. "If I hadn't taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten me."
So he challenged the tortoise to another race, and the tortoise agreed.
This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to
finish - winning by several miles.
The moral: " Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.
It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable."
But the story doesn't end here, folks!
Now it was the tortoise's turn to think about what went wrong in this
race. After much consideration, he realized that there was no way to beat
the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted - or as I would
like to say with ESEA - the way that it was currently crafted.
The tortoise thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed to this new route.
And then, they were off! In keeping with his self-made commitment to
be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he
came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of miles on the
other side of the river. Frustrated, the hare sat there fuming, and wondering
what to do.
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Are you an Reg Weaver offered some ideas for what you might say to your members
back home to impress upon them the importance of being involved
in their association. Here is his list of questions you might want
to pose to your colleagues: Are you an active member, the kind that could be missed? Or are you just contented that your name is on the list? Do you attend the meetings and mingle with the flock? Or do you stay at home to criticize and knock? Do you take an active part to help the work along? Or are you satisfied to only just belong? Do you work with your committee and get right in and mix? Or leave the work to just a few and talk about the cliques? Think it over, member, you know right from wrong. Are you an active member, or do you just belong? |
Meanwhile, the tortoise trudged along, dove into the river, swam to the
opposite bank and walked to the finish line, winning the race.
The moral: " Know your core competencies - what you do best - and
change the game to use your strengths."
And by now, you should know what I'm about to say: the story still hasn't ended.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends
and they did some thinking together. They both realized that the last
race could have been run much better, so they decided to run the last
race again - this time, as a team.
They started off. This time, the hare carried the tortoise to the riverbank.
Then, the tortoise took over and swam across the river with the hare on
his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and
they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense
of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.
The moral - "It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies - to know your strength; but it is working as a team and harnessing each other's strengths, where we are most powerful.
Harnessing our power by building strong locals and state affiliates has
never been more important. If we are to be successful in our efforts to
support children and public education - if we are to be successful in
framing education reform - we must work together to become the strongest
and most effective voice that is out there speaking about education. We
must be recognized as the ones who are in the classrooms and on the playgrounds
of America's schools - we must be recognized as the experts on educating
America's children!
Washington has mandated major reforms in public education, they have mandated goals that we have long advocated for, and aspired to have for our children - and they call this mandate ESEA's 'No Child Left Behind'!
Unfortunately, they mandated the goals without fully funding them, and without providing an implementation plan for them that will lead to success.
The backlash for the lack of success - the failure - in meeting the goals
as outlined by these mandated reforms will rest on our students, and it
will rest with you and I.
How does Washington demonstrate that they care about education, and education
reform? While telling the parents, teachers and children of America that
they have given all that they can give to public education, they enact
huge tax cuts for the wealthy-almost two trillion dollars in tax cuts
over the last three years - and then they announce that the federal budget
deficit has ballooned to a staggering $455 billion.
After the Administration has taken all of the bows, applause and backslaps
for education reform, you and I know where the burden of NCLB is going
to rest - at the state level, with the legislators and educators. Washington
has wiped its hands of its promise! Washington knows, and we know, that
the states can not afford to fund or implement this program. School districts
here in Wisconsin are facing larger class sizes and increasing student
fees. Extracurricular activities are being terminated this fall - many
districts are eliminating social workers, guidance counselors, and special
help programs, such as those that would assist the struggling readers
so that they can pass the test that is imposed by the Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) provision of NCLB. Now, what will be the result of these
students not passing the test - your schools and your students will be
labeled as 'in need of improvement' or 'failing'!
Despite Administration claims that NCLB is a spectacular success, the reality is:
But we can't afford to hang our heads - feel dejected - or allow ourselves
to be demoralized over what is happening - we need to use the inconsistencies
of our policy makers and of this law as an energizer! We need to use their
rhetoric, their inconsistencies, their lack of candor, their lack of loyalty,
their lack of respect, as a catalyst to energize us to fight the fight
for a quality public education - for "Great Public Schools Every
Child'.
NEA is committed to rescuing the goals of ESEA's NCLB because the goals are ours - they are what we know will help to level the playing field - to give every child an opportunity to realize the American dream - to reinforce democracy's foundation! To make these goals a reality NEA is committed to fixing and funding this mandate! And, to accomplish this, we have identified several approaches:
We will need your voices and your activism to make 'Great Public Schools for Every Child!' WEAC - Team NEA - we are on the move! WEAC, you are the priceless gems of our community and of our nation. Never forget that!
And let me share with you a short story to illustrate my point:
A famous speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill.
In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands flew up in the air.
He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."
He then proceeded to crumple the $20 dollar bill up.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?" And all hands remained
high in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped
the bill on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his
shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.
"Now who still wants it?" No one's hand went down - they still
stayed up.
"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson", he
said, "No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because
it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20."
WEAC, public schools and the educators and support professionals who
work everyday in our public schools are sometimes dropped, crumpled, and
ground into the dirt by the words and deeds of others. We are made to
feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what, you will never lose
your value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are priceless. The worth
of our lives comes not in what we do, or whom we know, but by who we are.
And who are we? We are Team NEA - and we are building 'Great Public Schools
for Every Child!' Thank you, my friends!
Posted August 13, 2003