Imagine teachers going on strike for weeks to oppose standardized testing. Imagine teachers taking up metal pipes to defend their rights to tenure. Imagine opposing police brutality with rocks to defend critical thinking and academic freedom. To what lengths should teachers, parents, and students go to, protect their working conditions and defend their schools? This question is one that National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) has been grappling with for over two months.
The National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) a militant caucus of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) has been fighting hard against President Peña Nieto’s educational reforms. For weeks, teachers from various rural areas from states like Oaxaca and Michoacán have converged in Mexico City to oppose Nieto’s version of No Child Left Behind, which would effectively ruin the educational system in Mexico and undoubtedly bust yet another union.
This year, mid-September in Mexico City the police brutalized protesters in the Zocalo with water cannons and billy clubs. In October in Oaxaca, police confronted teachers and students, and their rally was disbanded by force. Time and again, the police has derailed or stopped protesters during their actions. Yet, the opposition to the CNTE has not stopped there.
Most recently, in Tepito in Mexico City small business owners assaulted three CNTE members because merchants blamed the protesters for the decline in profits. In Michoacán, the government canceled all contracts with teachers in the caucus; officials claimed salaries would remain frozen until the academic cycle was rectified. In other regions, parents have threatened to beat teachers who want to return to work and replace scabs. What is just as disgusting is that the main union, the SNTE, has openly supported Nieto’s educational reforms.
To date, no political party has aligned itself with the CNTE, and all parties have blindly advocated Nieto’s educational reforms as being beneficial to students. Without support from the government or the overarching SNTE Union leadership (which is allegedly a corrupt union in Nieto’s back pocket), it is no wonder that these brave teachers and allies are fighting by any means necessary. Even though a majority of them have returned to work, the fight to repeal these reforms is nowhere near finished.
Yet, in an economic system (like our own) aimed at further privatizing education, how will this small caucus prevail? Increased standardized testing will not only “dumb down” the education students are receiving, but also line the pockets of the companies creating these tests.
Furthermore, the schools that are already well funded will fare better than the poor schools the CNTE represents. Already, the gap between the rich and the poor limits the access of students to school. These students will be further cheated from continuing their education past a high school degree, if they even get there.
Under these economic conditions and without any political representation in sight, this brave caucus has no chance of winning. Yet, their courage and determination should be an inspiration to us all because they know what is at stake despite the terror of the state and continued attacks.
With rocks and pipes and principles, these teachers are standing before a behemoth, fighting for a fundamental right to a well-rounded education for everyone. They stand alone, now, but with increased legislation in the horizon that will attack the poor and working classes, perhaps this small caucus will lead a much larger political struggle, and win.
