The ECHO, May 2023

echhsechoonline.com
Finding a roommate
through Instagram?
By Jane Kim
Staff Writer
For the first time in my life,
the pinging of my phone and
the lighting of its blue-light
screen was daunting. Like
those slapstick cartoons, the
horrid device binged and I
recoiled at the sight. Not a
normal reaction for a Gen Z
teen.
The problem stemmed from
a single app: Instagram. In the
new age, choosing college
roommates or finding friends
before the beginning of the
fall term is all through a social
media platform. Through
introductory paragraphs of
“hi!!”s and “I love [blank]
ing, [blank] with friends, and
[blank] in my free time”s,
the incoming freshmen of
public and private universities
around the United States post
themselves with their favorite
photos of themselves.
These “Meet Your Class
of 2027” Instagram accounts
gain followers, and so people
begin submitting photos and
descriptions en masse, hoping
to be next in line. For context,
for the University of Michigan
page, I submitted mine just to
be told I was 424th in line and
would have to wait three weeks
until mine would be posted.
On the surface, there don’t
seem to be many negatives. As
a survivor of the “Meet Your
Class of 2027” posts, I can
assure you otherwise.
Every word felt like a new
way someone scrolling through
could judge me. I switched
out my love for Drake vs.
Lana Del Rey probably seven
times before just giving up and
adding both. It felt like I was
selling myself; here’s a bright
and shiny roommate runner-up
who loves boba and can go to
the gym with you! The idea in
and of itself is very squirmish.
It’s like every post had a “these
are very cool things…I hope
you like me” between the lines.
The next step in the “Meet
Your Class of 2027” process is
accepting requests and direct
messaging one another. You
dm people without end; it’s
like speed dating except the
success rate is even lower and
you get ghosted more than
half the time. At this point,
my responses to “What’s ur
major?” “Are you rushing?”
and “Do you like north campus
or central?” were regurgitations
of the same conversations I’ve
had with multiple other people
before.
I remember a funny anecdote
from a post-midnight FaceTime
call with my friends. My friend
and “Nora” had been DMing
for over a week, exchanging
song requests and planning
college nights out and whatnot,
when Nora suddenly started
complaining about how so
many people had ghosted her
by just asking for her Snapchat
and then not replying ever
again. My friend, being the
kind soul she is, wholeheartedly
agreed, trying to find a sense
of common ground. Then,
without shame or hesitation,
Nora asked for my friend’s
Snapchat handle and ghosted
her. We haven’t heard back
from Nora for a while now, and
I doubt we ever will.
But from all the rubble and
mess, there really is hope. A
few weeks ago, my current
roommate Sophia messaged
me! Since then, it’s been
smooth sailing; we’re like a
happy couple on our collegedaydreaming
honeymoon. GO
BLUE!
By Graham Jones
Staff Writer
When I was a kid I knew
my teachers didn’t make a
whole lot of money. I thought
that it was just how things
worked, how they had to work.
I thought that it was some sort
of nebulous bad, something
that could and would be solved
by the government or a team of
scientists, like it was a disease
that just needed a vaccine.
In reality, nine-year-old me
wasn’t too far off.
North Carolina is one of
the 28 states who has “rightto-work”
laws. Right-to-work
laws actually greatly limit the
power of labor unions, and
therefore workers.
“You only have the option
to continue teaching at what
they tell you or quit,” said East
theater teacher Hope Hynes
Love. “The state is in a really
smart bargaining position,
they know that the people
who are educators care about
the quality of education that
children will receive…. The
[state] will ask this civil servant
to pay with their extra time,
their extra energy and their
commitment to a job because
it’s for the kids.”
The lack of powerful unions
and said union voices in the
N.C. legislature has resulted
in a system with very few
checks and balances in regards
to worker rights. The state is
making the teachers pay the
gap, because they know that
not many teachers will leave
because they love what they
do. But some do, some teachers
leave because it makes little
financial sense to work in the
N.C. public school system.
“No person shall be required
by an employer to abstain
or refrain from membership
in any labor union or labor
organization as a condition of
employment or continuation of
employment” (North Carolina
General Statute, section 95-81,
1947.)
This is one of many laws
that make North Carolina
OPINIONS 5
What right-to-work-laws mean for N.C.
a “right-to-work” state; by
removing the requirement that
an employee join a union when
a majority votes on it, unions
are extremely weakened. For
example, in a union-friendly
state, if a majority of workers
at an establishment vote to
unionize, every worker is then
a member of the union and
has to pay dues. This creates
an effective, strong union
that can collectively bargain
for workers rights. In rightto-work
states, the story is
different, that same majority
vote could happen, but only
the people who voted would
join the union, the others would
become free riders, reaping the
benefits of the union without
having to pay the dues. Free
riders weaken the voice of
the union; when a group of
workers aren’t fully united,
they lose a lot of power and
respect as a union; that union
can’t effectively bargain for
workers rights
Some may argue that
workers in right-to-work
states could still unionize.
While uniting a small group
of workers is feasible, uniting
a factory or a warehouse where
more than 1,500 people are
employed at a time is nearly
impossible, especially given
the extensive turnover attempts
by employers to limit union
organizing. Right-to-work
laws give power to employers
and big corporations by
effectively neutering unions
of their voice and collective
bargaining power. The laws
are even stricter on government
workers: “contracts between
units of government and labor
unions, trade unions or labor
organizations concerning
public employees declared to
be illegal” (North Carolina
General Statute, section 95-
98, 1959.) This means that
government workers, such
as public school teachers,
have absolutely no access to
collective bargaining or say
over how much they’re being
paid.
The teacher shortage in N.C.
is a layered issue; there was
no one issue that triggered a
mass exodus, but rather a build
up of issues that over time
have more and more teachers
quitting. A major component
to the gradual exodus is that a
teacher’s pay is dependent on
the whims of the legislature.
For a long time the state of
“You only have the option to
continue teaching at what they
tell you or quit.... The state is
in a really smart bargaining
position, they know that the
people who are educators care
about the quality of education
that children will receive….
The [state] will ask this civil
servant to pay with their extra
time, their extra energy and
their commitment to a job
because it’s for the kids.”
North Carolina paid teachers
more if they have earned
their masters. This practice
is standard all over the U.S.;
it was made to encourage
teachers to get higher
educations in hopes to increase
the effectiveness of teaching
along with increasing test
scores, but in 2013 the North
Carolina General Assembly
voted to end state-funded
master’s pay for teachers who
began their degree programs
after that year. The removal
of the program is bad enough,
North Carolina. is the first
state in the country to remove
the salary increase. It’s the
precedent that’s the issue; any
and all decisions surrounding
public education can be
revoked by the whim of the
N.C. legislature. Currently the
state is looking at reinstating
the salary increase, but the
damage has been done.
“People understand that
when those things happen
[in the corporate world] that
the corporation is corrupt,”
Love said. “If you started to
work for a company that said,
‘Get your masters and we’ll
pay you more,’ and then one
day they stop paying you for
your masters, I would say
any reasonable person would
[question] their trust of their
employer.”
In the corporate world this
would be a breach of contract,
but there was no contract to
be breached here. Because
there are no unions to keep
the legislature in check with
bartering, agreements, and
organized strikes there was
no one for the legislature to
sign a contract with; without
contracts the promises made
by the legislature can be
overturned every year.
“They have power, the way
to balance power is money,”
Love said. “If people are
[wondering] about what to do,
they can become ‘community
allies’... that’s a way [people]
can take some of their resources
rather than just their anger and
put it into solidary action.”
Love is a member of the
North Carolina Association
of Educators (NCAE), a
public education advocacy
organization that formed due
to teachers not having access
to collective bargaining in
North Carolina. The NCAE is
the closest thing to a union that
can exist in North Carolina;
they can’t take any political
action, they don’t have any
voice in the legislature and they
can not endorse any politicians
or directly donate to their
campaigns. What the NCAE
can do is create a separate
political action committee
(PAC) fund that members can
donate to, that PAC can then
take political action with the
funds donated. Note that if you
are not an educator you have
to pay an annual $25 dollar
fee to become a ‘community
ally,’ this includes students,
parents and local community
members.
For legislation to change,
there needs to be a dramatic
shift in the power of unions and
the laws that surround them in
North Carolina. Whether it be
donating in solidarity, voting
in state elections or organized
protesting, there are ways that
you can help foster the change
that is desperately needed.