L WV wants, c mmunity lobby - Canton Public Library

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I4A.(R I2A.W.O W) THE 0B8BHVM t Thur^y, January 16, 1975
opinion
No one looks out for helpless kids
LOST IN THE STRUGGLE
when teachers dec ide to strike
In all the agonizing hassle about teacher
strikes, a crucial point has got lost in the shuffle:
Just why did the Legislature originally pass a'
state law prohibiting strikes by public employes,
including teachers?
"Hie reasons are three. One is bad; one is only
moderately good; one is very good.
1. Because the Legislature back when it
the law forbidding public employe strikes
controlled by lawmakers who were generally
rural mugwumps, thoroughly opposed to any kind
of union activity. In today's times, and particularly
with respect to schools in the metropolitan
area, this is simply silly and out of date. Teacher
unions are a fact of life; passing laws preventing
their existence simply will not work.
2. Public employes ought to be prohibited
from striking because, as public employes work
for the public at large, there is nobody to bargain
with or strike against.
In broad terms this argument has some
sense; a strike by public employes is a strike
against citizens in general, and does not readily
fall within the classical reconciliation of labor and
management interests that the collective bargaining
process imposes.
In the narrower context of school boards and
teachers, however, schooj boards are elected to
be the representatives of the local taxpaying public;
hence the school boards are the bargaining
agent for the public, and the ultimate constraint
on the collective bargaining process is the public's
willingness to pay for schools and teacher salaries.
3. WHEN TEACHERS strike, the real losers
are the children whose education is jerked around
and botched up, but who are not and cannot be
Observation
Fbint
by PHILIP II. INVIT E It
part of the collective bargaining pr jess. This is a
thoroughly sensible reason to >hibit teacher
strikes, yet it is a point so far lost (n the juvenile
display of emotionalism tha has so far characterchildren
ized discussions of the problem
What recourse do the
have when
teachers strike? Boycott the classroom? State law
requires their attendance, sjnd anyway a boycott
would be self defeating, \fote agajnst millage?
They cant.
What shall the children do When school
boards become intransigen
gain? Urge their parents t
and refuse to barvote
down millage?
This would not be in their irlerest, which must be
quality education. Run for school board? State
law prohibits candidates fjor offic under 18.
What can the children do wheni the Legislaabsurd
Ipatchwork of
ture fiddles around with an
state laws that virtually guarantees teacher
strikes? Vote against the icowardly legislators?
Most school children canr ot vote.
TTie teachers have th
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Tim Richard writes
I don't know for certain—which is why I feel young—
but my guess is that it's a farm term and referred to a
dog who stole an egg from the henhouse
Pick up a high-class magazine and you'll see engineers'
drawings of "people movers." Don't they look
like speedier versions of the old streetcars? Sure, some
of us have ridden on streetcars, but when was the last
time you saw one? Ask your kid what a streetcar is.
The big fashion news is that ladies' hats are coming
back. A lady used to be defined as a female who
wouldn't be caught dead in public without a hat. and
preferably she even wore white gloves. When was the
last Ume you saw a woman under 50 in a hat?
THE YOUNG FOLKS today krfow what a gear shift is
on a vehicle, but yoq'll have to ask around awhile before
you find someone who has used a gear shift—on a
car.
Fountain pens, gear shifts and radio serials have practically
disappeared from the culture, for bett^j or for
worse. CBS brought back the radio play with its "Mystery
Theater," but most nights WJR is broadcasting a
sports event, so you have to wait until 1:07 in the morning.
The kids may never know the joy of using their
imaginations as they Usten to a drama.
•
Classical music is so nearly obsolete on commercial
television that they call it a "Christmas special" whenever
it is presented any more.
The old "Lone Ranger" radio program had a long
string of classical themes—Liszt's "Les Preludes,"
Borodin's "Poiovtsian Dances" and even a shot of Mendelssohn,
not to mention Rossini's "William Tell Overture."
A Rimsky-Korsakov theme introduced "The
Green Hornet," and a soap opera came on with a
theme from Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" symphony.
But you'll have to listen pretty hard to hear a commercial
television show with a classical music theme.
THE TOP ROW of the balcofy in a movie theater
was referred to as "ethnic heaven" or something like
that, but it's pretty hard to find a modern movie house
in suburbia with a balcony. The Civic in Farmington
has one, but I've never seen it open. ,
Mustache wax made a comeback, and vests never entirely
left us, but when is the last time you've bought a
pair of trousers with a watch pocket? I have a pair of
Levis with a watch pocket, but no pocket watch to put
in the.watch pocket
Accounting is so sophisticated nowadays that someone
figured out soda fountains are a poor, investment
for a drug store. Soda fountains had their social uses,
and there are one or two still left in these suburbs But
you'll never see a new one built by a businessman who
believes in cost-benefit analysis
Sense And
Nonsense
. According to figures put out by the Wayne County
Sheriffs department, crime in the western regions
of the county is on the upswing. Canton
Township i$' one area that has suffered a rise in
crime in the last several years.
When'a township official was asked about the
rise in crime in Canton he responded, "Quite
frankly, I'pi agairpt it."
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