This Tuesday, January 4, 2011, teachers, parents, students, and all other types of Americans who support the nations' public education system will be wearing red. The idea originated with teachers in Florida who are upset with some of the current reforms that the state's soon-to-be governor Rick Scott wants to implement. Some of the ideas Scott has may even violate Florida's state constitution.
In order to show their disapproval of Scott and his reform methods but, more importantly, to show their support for public education, Florida teachers chose Tuesday as the day to wear red because this is the day Scott will be inaugurated.
The idea caught on quickly across Florida, and was turned into a national event in a showing of solidarity. The public education system--and especially teachers--has been the recipient of harsh criticism lately, with most of it being unfair and some of it being untrue. However, most of those hurling the criticism at public education have never worked in the system and don't understand the real problems that public education faces such as a lack of fair funding, the inequity that exists between school districts, and an over-emphasis on standardized tests.
While wearing red on Tuesday won't solve any of the real problems facing public education, it will show that there are plenty of us out there who support public education, have an opinion about public education, and want our voices to be heard regarding public education. Hopefully this will be the first step in the long overdue process of letting those who are actually involved first-hand in America's public education system--teachers, parents, and students--have a say in what happens to it.
To help spread the word, people are being asked to change their Facebook profile picture to the image above and are being asked to Tweet about the event with the hashtag #WearRedForEd [and RSVP at the Facebook Page]. Of course good old-fashioned word of mouth is always acceptable too!
