Of Mice and Minnesota: Mouse World and Reading Instruction This is about reading instruction – so hang with me. I Believe I am a strong advocate of unions. Why? Because individually we have no voice. The people with the most money and power have very loud voices. They are able to hog the conversation. I am just a little mouse. These are the big mice (capybara). Their mouse voices are influential. People think that what they have to say somehow more important. No matter how sound the reasoning I use, and no matter how much research and research-based knowledge that I present, I am just a little mouse with just a quiet squeaky voice. Nobody much knows that I exist and very few really care what I have to say. I’m a little mouse with a very little mouse podcast and a teeny-tiny MouseTube channel. I have no say in any educational matters. I have no voice. People think that what I have to say is of little importance. As a little mouse, I realize that my views are irrelevant in the whole scope of things. Simple Simon Met a Pie Man And I am just fine with being a little mouse living a happy little life in Mouse World; however, … the big mice are messing things up. They’re making educational decisions that benefit, not mouse-children, but other big mice. The policies and statutes they put forward severely limit the potential of the mice-children who are trying to learn to read. The big mice blame mouse-teachers while defunding mouse schools. They say the problem is mouse-parents while making it necessary for mouse parents to work two jobs just to put cheese on the table. Their goal is to control and manipulate to get intended outcomes, which in their case is more money and power. They see schools as Skinner boxes, offering pellets and electric shocks to get students and teachers to toe the line. But there’s far more shocks than pellets. Back in early 2000, the Big Mice tried to control the whole educational system through the No Child Left Behind act. That was going to change things. “Now we’re really going to have fine education,” they all said to themselves back then. “This will fix things,” they said. But if you look at NCLB, you see that it didn’t fix anything. And here we are again. NCLB was just a bunch of electric shocks. NCLB was just a plan to make bad things happen. “We’ll make bad things happen to schools that aren’t performing. We’ll make them pay for private tutors, fire their principals, take control of their schools, and eventually, all the bad schools will go away,” they said. But it didn’t really happen that way, did it. “It’s because they took prayer out of public schools,” they say. It’s because of the liberal agenda,” they say. “It’s because of critical race theory,” they say. “It’s because of the Department of Education,” they say. “It’s because of the intellectual elites,” they say. “It’s because of teachers unions,” they say. “It’s because they’re not teaching phonics,” they say. Back in 2002 the Big Mice spent $5 Billion dollars of public money on a skills-based, phonics-first program called the Reading First Initiative. Very similar to the Science of Reading mandates currently in law or statute in 38 states, the Reading First Initiative attempted to steer lucrative reading contracts to the individuals who controlled the program. That $5 billion could have been spent on this that really would have made a difference. “Like what?” they say. You want simple answers for complex questions. How much public money has been wasted by simpletons who think they have a simple answer to complex issues? They think they know more than the “intellectual elites” who waste their time doing research, scholarly work, and actually teaching children. They alone know the causal variable for all reading problems that has somehow managed to escape the grasp of hundreds of thousands of teachers, researchers, scholars, and tenure-seeking professors. They have some sort of magical educational insight that’s enabled them to clearly see the cause of reading problems and the answers to reading problems. Money and Power The views and values of those with more money and power will always take precedent over those with less money and power. That’s just the way it is in Mouse World. The values of those with money and power become “American” values, the “right” values, the “moral” values. Their values represent “decency”. Any other values by default become “un-American”, “indecent, and immoral”. The views of those with money and power become the “majority” views, the “right” views, the “democratic” views, the views that are best for our country and for our economy. When they speak with great emotion and fervor, they are passionate. Views other than these become extremist, out-of-step, fanatical, radical, or partisan. And when they speak with great emotion and fervor, they are ranting. The difference between a ranting diatribe and a passionate homily? …. Money and power. The difference between democratic views and radical views? … Money and power. The difference between immoral values into moral values? … Money and power. Right and wrong, normal and abnormal, decent and indecent are all determined by how closely the view and values of others align with those who have money and power. These are the perks of money and power. Gollum’s Ring In Mouse World, money and power become like Gollum’s ring. Those who have it, crave it even more. They grasp onto it, holding tightly with white knuckles. “… my precious …” Those with money and power do not exist to have less money and power; And they do not exist to give it all away. Rather, the existence of those with money and power is predicated on the need to maintain the status quo so that they can continue to accumulate more money and power. They will do almost anything to keep things just as they are. They tell themselves and any who will listen that they deserve to be big mice because they are the mice who are big. What big mice fear the most is mouse-teacher autonomy. This would lead to creative and critical thinking, evolution, and dynamic change. Change would not be good for Big Mice. Change would upset the whole order of things, you see. They would have to give away the ring. A Good System I must admit that it's a pretty good system … if you’re a big mouse sitting on top of a big pile of cheese manipulating all the little mice who are making you the cheese. The system works just fine for you. You’re getting lots and lots of cheese. You got more cheese than you can eat in a thousand lifetimes, but you still need more. But for the little mice who are trying to feed their mouse families, send their mice children to mouse college, get good mouse-care, and buy a mouse house, the system doesn’t work so well. It’s not very mouse friendly. Not so much cheese. And there are even some big mice who put profit over people. They see public schools as their own private ATM machines used to extract public funding for their profits. Think about this Minnesota (and other states), where does all the money go for these Science of Reading initiatives? Yes, it goes to school, but then what must schools spend it on? Where will $100 million dollars of public money go? Who benefits from this? Who’s lives will be improved? Who gets all the cheese. Let me give you a hint: It rhymes with for-profit-entities. Unions and Big Mice Somewhere along the line little mice discovered that if they banded together with other little mice who have quiet squeaky voices, all of us little mice become one big mouse with a loud squeak. If we create a union of mice, our voices get heard. We have a place at the table with the Big Mice. This is what a union is for. It’s a way for all the little mice to become a big mouse and have a place at the table and to have a say into the things that impact their working lives. We not only get more cheese, but we are able to make educational decisions based on what’s best of mouse-children But the big mice did not become big mice by being big dumb mice. They quickly learned that if the little mice became too big, they could severely impact their cheese profits. Even though the little mice worked to help create all the cheese, the big mice wanted to severely limit excessive cheese distribution. “It’s ours,” they said. “We earned it.” “We’re big mice. We deserve to have more cheese.” The big mice discovered that if they disempowered individual mice, and if they denigrated and demoralized mouse unions, the big loud union-mouse at sitting the table becomes a small and quiet mouse again and is soon relegated to the children’s table where their quiet little squeak is rarely heard. The big mice found that you can shrink and silence mouse unions if you convince all the nonunion mice that the union-mice are bad, lazy, or getting away with things. “They’re getting a lot of cheese and not doing their jobs” they say. “They need to be held “accountable,” they say. “Mouse unions are communist,” they say, not knowing the difference between communism and socialism. “They make people lazy and unmotivated. They protect bad mice. And they eliminate competition.” You see, competition is very important to big mice … so they say. They say that competition will solve all mouse and cheese problems. They say that if little mice compete for the little bits of cheese that they throw on the ground, that all the bad mice will go away and all the good mice will rise to the top. Competition is good for little mice, they say. But at the same time, the big mice give themselves corporate subsidies, tax breaks, and special rules that will enable them to win. Competition may be great for a Quicky Mart gas station. It’s not so great for public schools. This mouse competition merely moves the cheese around. It gives a little more to some mice and a little less to other mice. And the bad mice (who weren’t really bad in the first place, but simply didn’t have the tools to be good mice), don’t go anywhere. “I pulled myself up by my mouse bootstraps!” the big mice declare. “I was able to use the connections that I made at Harvard, and the government contracts that I secured through my connections and contributions to rise to the top. I competed and I won! I’m better than you, you see. I am winning. I deserve to have more cheese. The little mice deserve what little cheese they have.” Making Union-Mice Small Again The big mice also learned that they could manipulate mouse unions by manipulating the mice at the top of the union. So, they treat union presidents with deference. And they trick them into thinking that they have power and influence, and that they’re special. The union presidents get a taste of power and influence. They get a taste for all the fancy cheese, and they like it. They start to see themselves as big mice. Eventually, the union presidents forget that they are little mice. They start acting like big mice, making decisions for the little mice. They tell the little mice what’s best for them. They control information, access, and power so that they can continue to feel like Big Mice. The little mice eventually discover that they have traded one big mouse for another. There are several models for unions. The organizational model seeks to organize and empower all the individual mice so that they are empowered to have a say. Big mice don’t like this model. Big mice like the service model for unions. They like it when union presidents act like big mice. These mice are easy to control. They like it when union presidents make the decisions for all their little mice. They like it when union presidents tell the little mice what’s best for them. Eventually the little mice realize that the mouse union doesn’t listen to them. It doesn’t represent them. It doesn’t communicate important information or share in the decision-making. It does nothing to ensure the quality of their mice lives. So, one-by-one, the little mice leave the mouse union. And the Big Mice clap their furry paws together and laugh with glee. Teachers Unions Once upon a time, in Minnesota Mouse World, there was a teacher union called Education Minnesota. One day, Professor Mouse thought about it and asked nobody in particular, “In the Science of Reading debacle, and the Read Act in Minnesota, where are our teachers unions? Where has Education Minnesota been?” Yes, state legislatures have the right to impose statues. Absolutely. But teachers unions have the right, and the moral obligation to respond. The Read Act and other SoR mandates strip away teachers right and obligation to provide the type of instruction that is best for their mice-students. They’re forcing teachers to spend hours in state-mandated professional development programs, paid for by state tax dollars. They force schools to purchase state-mandated reading programs. The teaching profession is being de-professionalized and you say nothing. Teachers are now expected to open the teachers’ manual and follow the script. We don’t have mouse-teachers, we have script-followers. Teacher empowerment has been central to good education. Teachers unions led to better schools, better educational outcomes, and better teachers. Yet, teachers unions have let outside interests change public education. You have sat silent as teachers have been asked to do more with less. You’ve sat silence as teachers are forced to implement one-size-fits-all scripted reading programs. Teachers are forced to engage in state-mandated educational malpractice for reading instruction … and you say nothing. Anybody can say nothing. The only thing worse than not having a union is having a union that does nothing.