LogFAQs > #910722436

This article kind of hits home for me, cause one of my best friends grew up in Oklahoma, I met her back when she was still very Republican, and now she lives in Canada and swings relatively left by Canadian standards.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/red-state-teacher-strike-ballot-blue.html

Then with the Oklahoma teachers strike last April, my politics just shifted completely. I walked out because the future of Oklahoma is in trouble. I teach science, and we do not have the budget to do experiments in the classroom. Kids from other states come in and theyre so far ahead; they say, Man, we were doing this in middle school. But its not just science, its all across the board. Some classes have 40 or more students because a teacher quit and with our low wages, they couldnt find a replacement. Its not uncommon to meet a ninth- or tenth-grade student who has never seen a new textbook during all their years in school. Students in high school wont bat an eye when theyre told there is literally no book available for the course. Others have had a newly hired teacher every single year from first grade through ninth grade, never getting the benefit of a seasoned educator. None of this bodes well for our workforce, or the kinds of leaders were going to have in education.

As public school teachers, we spend around 60 hours a week teaching and grading papers, but we felt like we had to go up to the capitol and lobby for public education too. We started visiting with lawmakers and bartering over budget plans. I was struck by how they talked to us. They dismissed us. They talked down to us. It was true of all of them, but especially the Republican leaders. The next week we were still there talking about budget items, like a tiny income-tax increase which isnt really raising taxes, its restoring taxes, because our lawmakers had cut them so low. They seemed shocked and stunned that we knew our stuff and could use all the political lingo. They didnt know how to respond; it was amazing to see how little they expected of us. It was sad.

Previously, whenever I heard people say Republicans are out for the rich and dont care about the poor, Id think, No, Im not rich. I care about the poor and I know so many Republicans who do too. But I learned a lot of politics is about how you appropriate money, and how you set up various social services. After we talked to our representatives, the teachers would huddle over dinner, break out our computers, and pore over the budget. We were students, breaking down the information in ways we could understand. We learned that money was flowing to private prisons and oil companies; they get money, and social services just dont. It changed the way that I saw the entire Republican Party. You value what you put your money in.

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