Yesterday in business class, we had to do some paper on unions or something like that. I took the liberty of sticking it to The Man (who I'll write about in my next post or something like that)
To whom it may concern
(i.e. everybody),
It has recently come to my attention that we, students of
the Robeson Early College High School, are not fairly represented in the
administrative powers that be. Continually we have been belittled, derided,
shoved off, and oppressed in such instances as the enforcement of county
backpack standards, limitations on our dress while being still within the
agreed upon bounds of the dress code, and the obstruction of our education via
online courses. But today, we no longer have to stand for such tyranny! The Student
Association against Tyranny (SAT, because the irony is too sweet) has come to
your aid. In return, all it’s asking for is your support and approval.
Recently, I, Kyle Sozanski, have been researching labor unions throughout the
country. And what are students but laborers to knowledge and wisdom? Indeed, if
you still have doubt in your heart, let it be dispelled in the following
paragraphs.
A union – as that is what I am proposing is formed – has
many benefits for us. For instance, labor union workers bargain for wages. Why
not us students? There’s no reason why we couldn’t come to a consensus with the
administration on something like a ten-point scale for our grade. Further,
union workers get 26% more vacation time on average. While education certainly
is more important, there’s no reason why we – as the ones who have to often go
six weeks doing often challenging mental labor – can’t have an extra day off
every now and again. Another benefit, possibly the most important one, is the bargaining
power we’d have over quality: if we came together and demanded that we receive better education, then
it’s entirely possible that we’d receive it.
There are many ways we could go about accomplishing our
goals: picketing, striking, and boycotting just to name a few. All of these are
nonviolent protests – such things encouraged by the late Doctor Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi – and have been shown to be effective. Picketing
would be useful for going directly to the Board of Education and showing via
signage how we feel; things like sit-ins are perfect examples of strikes that
we could perform just over at the office to let the administration know that
we’re tired of oppression; boycotting bus usage could even put extra pressure
from the bus drivers onto the administrative powers that be.
Requirements for joining SAT would be simple: just be a
student within the public school system, want to change how you and future
students are to be taught and treated, and willing to come together with your
fellow man in order to accomplish your collective goals. Though legal
implications such as most of us being minors may not get the union federally
recognized, grassroots movements and unofficial groups have often swayed the
balance of power.
So, my friends, I urge you to come together for the
common good, for if we don’t stand for ourselves, who truly will?
