{"id":590456,"date":"2026-04-22T20:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=590456"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:20:00","slug":"civic-action-requires-more-than-textbooks-chicago-to-subsidize-may-day-protests-by-teachers-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=590456","title":{"rendered":"“Civic Action Requires More Than Textbooks”: Chicago To Subsidize May Day Protests By Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Civic Action Requires More Than Textbooks”: Chicago To Subsidize May Day Protests By Teachers<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Jonathan Turley,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Chicago Public Schools are facing a major truancy problem\u2026among teachers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) was up in arms over suggestions that classes should be held on May 1 when teachers wanted to be out protesting. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Called International Workers\u2019 Day, May Day is a global day of protest for socialist, communist, and unionist groups.<\/p>\n

The CTU was upset when parents objected that canceling a day of class for teachers to join a political protest was a burden for working parents. These teachers believe that they are teaching something far more important through their activism. In defending the demand for publicly subsidized protests, CTU Vice President Jackson Potter explained that \u201cteaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks.\u201d<\/p>\n

While that does not help with the dismal proficiency scores of actual students, it is vital to training students as political foot soldiers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CTU and the National Education Association\u00a0recently collaborated<\/a>\u00a0on a \u201ccurriculum build\u201d to bring \u201csocial justice into the classroom\u201d ahead of May Day. Dave Stieber, a history teacher in Chicago Public Schools is shown declaring that \u201cMay Day is a dress rehearsal for maybe there\u2019s a random day in, you know, June that we all are, like, no work, no school, no shopping\u2026So this is a continuation and a buildup of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime,\u00a0with only 2 o<\/a>f 5 students reading at grade level, the Chicago teachers chose to lower proficiency levels rather than improve their teaching record.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While failing on actually teaching students, the CTU is proficient at instructing politicians such as Mayor Brandon Johnson through the use of union dues to fund Democratic campaigns.\u00a0 The CTU and other teachers\u2019 unions funneled millions into Johnson\u2019s campaign. By\u00a0one estimate,<\/a>\u00a093 percent of Johnson\u2019s campaign budget came from unions.<\/p>\n

The CTU has long held the distinction of being the most radical teachers\u2019 union in the country. It was a CTU delegation that went to Venezuela during the Maduro regime to\u00a0praise conditions under socialism<\/a>. In a country where dissenters and reporters were\u00a0being jailed and killed<\/a>, the Chicago teachers gushed about how \u201cwe did not see a single homeless person!\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago area teachers have been\u00a0charged with violent protests.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Suggesting that teachers should work rather than attend May Day protests set off the Chicago teachers. Now, the union has confirmed that classes will be held without the participating teachers, and Chicago Public Schools will pay for buses for both students and educators to go to the protests.<\/p>\n

The city further promised that there would be\u00a0no repercussions<\/a>\u00a0for either students or teachers playing hooky from school.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time unions and teachers have allowed students to skip classes to support left-wing protests. In New York, teachers and students were allowed to skip school to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. Previously, students were allowed to skip school to\u00a0protest climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These school districts do not show the same participatory support for protests on the right. There is no accommodation or city-subsidized buses for pro-life protests or demonstrations in favor of Israel.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the Chicago school system is declaring that this is what schooling is all about in the Windy City. CPS CEO Macquline King stated that \u201cthe agreement honors the proud history of civic action in Chicago and beyond.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Decades ago, my parents helped create an organization to stem the exodus of families from public schools and to reinforce academic standards in the Chicago Public School system. They convinced more families to remain in the system because they believed (as I do) that public schools can play a critical role in shaping citizens through a diverse and shared experience.<\/p>\n

I was long skeptical of voucher systems because of that commitment to public education. However, teacher unions and administrators are\u00a0destroying public education in America<\/a>. They are treating families as captive audiences while infusing education with social and political agendas. The only way to break this decades-long cycle of failure, in my opinion, is to give families alternatives by allowing them to send their children to schools with core educational (as opposed to advocacy) priorities.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Mayor Johnson celebrated the funding of the May Day protests:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe are pleased all parties are working together to ensure school communities can participate in commemorating International Workers Day\u2026Encouraging participating allows Chicagoans to honor our history while advocating for our future. We look forward to a day of meaningful solidarity and community resistance to the forces trying to tear us apart.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Schools have long been a target for indoctrination by radical elements. The Cultural Revolution in China was the\u00a0most extreme example<\/a>\u00a0where children were forced into protests and taught that political activism came before scholastics under the slogan \u201cto rebel is justified<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mao declared that \u201cour educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and become a worker with both socialist consciousness and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the CTU\/NEA seminar, Kirstin Roberts, a pre-school teacher in Chicago Public Schools, is\u00a0shown<\/a>\u00a0explaining that the purpose is to \u201cencourage teachers of young children not to feel like this is stuff that\u2019s way beyond their students, not to be afraid of raising up social justice issues, including workers\u2019 rights, anti-racism, pro LGBT, LGBTQIA plus issues, immigration and immigrants rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The erosion of the line between education and advocacy is now occurring on every level of our educational system. Some universities now have\u00a0\u201cresident activist\u201d programs<\/a>\u00a0or offer degrees in advocacy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my book\u00a0Rage and the Republic<\/em><\/a>, I discuss the rise of the \u201cnew Jacobins\u201d in the United States, including a cadre of radical educators who use our schools to pursue fundamental changes in our constitutional system. Law professors and deans are now calling for trashing our Constitution as a threat to the nation while teachers are using classes to radicalize students.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s subsidy of May Day protests uses public funds in the struggling school system to foster radical political agendas. It removes any doubt for parents about the priority of Johnson, the CTU, and many of these teachers.<\/p>\n

Some of the sentiments expressed in Chicago could have been ripped from Mao\u2019s Little Red Book and speeches. He insisted \u201ceducation must serve proletarian politics\u201d and demanded \u201cthe period of schooling should be shortened, education should be revolutionized.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Chicago, the \u201cperiod for schooling\u201d is now being shortened in favor of \u201csolidarity and community resistance.\u201d <\/strong>While the students may not be able to actually read, they will learn the three R\u2019s of modern education: resisting, raging, and rebelling.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of \u201c<\/em>Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 04\/22\/2026 – 16:20<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Civic Action Requires More Than Textbooks”: Chicago To Subsidize May Day Protests By Teachers Authored by Jonathan Turley, The Chicago Public Schools are facing a major truancy problem\u2026among teachers. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) was up in arms over suggestions that classes should be held on May 1 when teachers wanted to be out protesting.… Continue reading “Civic Action Requires More Than Textbooks”: Chicago To Subsidize May Day Protests By Teachers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":590441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-590456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=590456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/590441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=590456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=590456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=590456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}