I’ve been amazed — in a good way — at how positive is the media coverage of all these teacher wildcat strikes and actions in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona. Particularly from liberal media outlets.

I say this because it was just six years ago that the teachers in Chicago struck. Even though their cause was just as righteous as that of the teachers in these southern states, featuring many of the same grievances you see in the current moment — the Chicago teachers’ final contract included a guarantee of textbooks for all students on the first day of class; a doubling of funds for class supplies; $1.5 million for new special education teachers; and so on — the hostility from media outlets, including liberal media outlets, was palpable.

Time’s education columnist had this to say about the Chicago teachers — many of whom were women of color, in a union led by a woman of color — on the Diane Rehm Show: