"You can't teach respect for law in the classroom and then break it in front of the children," John Sullivan, a field representative of the National Education Association, said last night, in an attack on the New York City teachers' strike.

Roger Parents, vice-president of the United Teachers Federation, the collective-bargaining agent for New York City teachers, countered by telling the Sanders Theatre audience that "teachers, by taking this particular action at this particular time have done something for education."

Parents Arrives Late

Before Parente, who arrived from New York after the program had begun, entered the auditorium, Rose Claffey, vice-president of the American Federation of Teachers, who had not been scheduled to appear, announced that Parente was not a representative of the AFT. She consented to address the group in his place.

The National Education Association, according to Sullivan, feels that collective bargaining or striking is not consistent with professional status for teachers, and favors instead the use of such methods as legislative lobbying, black-listing of schools, or mass resignations over the summer.

Sullivan also claimed that the teachers' organizations should be independent of all groups, including the labor movement, so that they would be free to "teach their students the truth."

Representing the AFT, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, Miss Claffey claimed that "we need not apologize for an alliance with the group which has done the most for teachers through the years."