A Tale of Two School Districts

In Chicago, the teachers (who make an average of $76,000) are getting a 16-percent pay hike even though their results actually teaching kids are abysmal. They explain their failure by blaming the students and the parents. What do the Chicago parents do? They support the strikers. And why not? They aren’t the ones who are paying for all the largesse.

In Lake Forest, a tony suburb north of Chicago, the teachers (who make over $100,000 each on average) have turned down a 9-percent increase and have also formed picket lines. But parents in Lake Forest are holding rallies to get the teachers back on the job. They’re volunteering to teach today as the schools have opened their doors despite the strike. There is even talk of replacing the strikers, since Lake Forest schools get thousands of qualified teaching applicants every year.

Isn’t one reason for the differing approach that the parents in Lake Forest are paying the bills and expect accountability, and the parents in Chicago are expecting someone else to pay for their schools?

About Stan Guthrie

Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers. Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's €œTell Me More,€ WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio'€™s €œNew Day Florida.€ A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
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