Peters teachers, district need to compromise
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines compromise as “a way of reaching agreement in which each person or group gives up something that was wanted in order to end an argument or dispute.”
Definition number two is “something that combines the qualities of two different things.”
Definition three: “a change that makes something worse and that is not done for a good reason.”
We realize that there are three sides to every story and for the purposes of this editorial, we are choosing to go with the first definition. That is, in the hopes that the Peters Township School District and the Peters Township Local 3431 teachers union can come to a compromise before Oct. 28, so that a work strike can be avoided.
If that is not the case, the victims here are not the teachers missing out on more money when they have larger classes – $400 per child over a set number of students is the point of contention – or higher health care contributions. The victims here are not the school board or the school district, forced to cancel school and answer to their taxpayers.
No, the victims in the case of a teachers’ strike are the students. Sure, at first they will jump for joy because they won’t have to wake up early and go to school. They won’t face pop quizzes, lectures that they feel are boring, or be subjected to physical education classes. But it is these students who will miss out on learning. Not only that, but they will be forced to give up their holiday vacations, spring break, and have to struggle to cram in the state-required 180 days of education by June 15.
The 4,300 students in Peters Township School District are victims because if they are supposed to learn from example, they are getting a horrible lesson in the art of compromise.