Fundamentals of Journalism Blog

After the teachers’ strike in Chicago ended today, 350,000 kids could return to school after not being able to go for a week.  In this article, the author talks about how it’s still not clear there is solution to the problems that initiated the strike.

Although the strike is over, the union and city leaders have not exactly come to an agreement on what the teachers were on strike for.  The mayor of Chicago was able to make school days longer for teachers. With the lengthening of school days, teachers still gave up other things as well. They gave up their accumulated sick days, agreed to join a wellness program to keep their health care costs down, gave up their request for a 30% raise over four years. The teachers were forced to accept that their students’ test scores were going to be included in their evaluations.

This strike was a way for the teachers to show the people in Chicago that they still have a way of making a difference. Some people think ultimately this was a loss for the students. They lost out of school for over a week and still have teachers that are truly happy with the decisions being made.

The strike coming to an end is news for anyone following the story or anyone in the Chicago area affected the by the strike. I also think its news for the general audiences because this is a rare type of news. You don’t hear about schoolteachers going on strike to often anymore.   The only thing I think the author could have added to make this article a little more understanding for the reader is to include a short synopsis of what the original reasons for the teachers going on strike.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chicago-strike-ends-no-clear-winner-163924823.html