The AGORA Project
A Private, Social Network for MTA Members
OBJECTIVE: To build a community of MTA members based on common interests to increase the value of our union through the creation of an intranet communications platform.
Large organizations today have intranet communications platforms that allow communication vertically and horizontally and in groups. Everyone has an organization email. Members receive organizational news and announcements through the intranet. People working in departments or on projects can form work groups and chat using the platform.
The MTA needs this kind of platform, which could be used by locals and chapters to communicate and organize. The MTA would have a channel or group for specific functions like announcements and organizing. The platform would store MTA documents and allow for publishing information. I call this the AGORA Project. The agora was the central gathering place of Ancient Greek city-states where democracy originated. Members of their democracy would gather there to socialize and govern.
As important would be the ability of members to generate their own groups based on their own needs and interests. Negotiations. Antiracism. Rural education. Activism. Book clubs. The important part of these groups would be in members pursuing their own interests with other members creating personal connections and social capital. These relationships would be the kind of value we would come with MTA membership.
A private, social media platform would also help solve two problems: 1) the relatively weak ability to organize our members, and 2) the poor state of our democracy.
So much of MTA organizing and activism fails because, aside from the Educators for a Democratic Union, there are no authentic groups of people to mobilize. The EDU formed and coheres because its members share particular beliefs and interests. There are no other coherent groups in the MTA. To maximize our political influence, we need more groups that share common interests. Successful activism on a grand scale requires the activation of groups of people who already know each other, not just random individuals. With groups within the MTA, it will be easier to organize members.
Given the size of our union, our ability to organize and apply political pressure is relatively weak. We did have a resounding success when we defeated the ballot initiative that would have increased the number of charter schools. We canvassed and made phone calls to our members. There’s no question our work was important. It’s also important to acknowledge that MASC and MASS also opposed the initiative. In fact, I don’t know of a city or town that didn’t actively oppose the question. Could we have done it ourselves if the public had been more opposed to the initiative? I have my doubts.
On a lot of issues, even our membership is split on the policy. I remember a colleague, for example, who voted to eliminate bilingual education 15 or 20 years ago. I was aghast. She was an outstanding math teacher who worked well with our most disadvantaged students. She may have opposed that question, even if she had enough information. Nevertheless, we need to have conversations with members about education policy. There will always be members who disagree with an MTA stand, but we would add value to their membership by improving their understanding of educational issues.
Our union democracy is an embarrassment. As educators, we should be demonstrating what our students need to learn and what American democracy should aspire to. I’ll save a critique of our union’s democracy for another time, but underpinning democracy is the ability of citizens to congregate, socialize, plan, organize, discuss and deliberate. In the 21st century, social media transcends space and even time. MTA members would congregate on AGORA, building community and communities, creating social capital for members and the MTA’s sake.