Monday, December 01, 2003
Of all the opinions
Of all the possible GSIs from all the possible fields The Daily Cal could possibly question about the strike, they ask a philosophy graduate student. And while Socrates Jr. is out "weighing the moral impact," your average Joe is thinking in entirely different terms, specifically "Does my sense of duty as a teacher outweigh my sense of loyalty to the union." Put this way, it becomes infinitely more clear why the union's failure to communicate with the GSIs beyond hate-filled "The University is evil" rants has a huge impact on the success of the strike.
Any GSI who sacrifices teaching her students because she wants to engage in "sympathy strikes" and have some "neutral ground for negotiations" even though her pay and benefits are perfectly acceptable is a disgrace to teaching. If I hear one striking GSI call herself a teacher, I'm going to explode. Part of being a teacher is sacrifice. You sacrifice your freedom to act and speak as you please in order to teach your damn students. It's not a game, like this bullshit. If you are a teacher, you have a duty to teach, even if it means you don't get to make political statements whenever the hell you feel like it.
Pop quiz: What happens when the Labor Contract Negotiators' Union goes on strike?
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