The Anatomy of a Public School Teacher’s Dilemma

This is a case study of a dilemma that a British Columbia school teacher named Paul was involved in 2012 during a heated labor dispute between the government and the teachers’ union. In an effort to pressure the government the union asked teachers to halt all extracurricular activities. This directive would not be so problematic in a more affluent community, but Paul teaches in an inner-city neighborhood where extracurricular activities anchor children to the school and provide them with learning opportunities that their parents cannot provide. Paul was plunged into an uncomfortable situation in which he had to balance the needs of the inner-city children that he works with against his professional obligations to the union. This paper utilizes Rushworth Kidders ‘Justice-verses-Mercy’ paradigm and Robert Greenleaf’s ‘Servant Leadership’ paradigm as filters to understand how Paul resolved this dilemma.