Although most of the new crop of self-described "reformers" have denied it, we've all suspected that union-busting is ultimately behind the scapegoating of teachers for turning America into a "nation at risk." But in case there was ever any doubt, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, former DC schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee and L.A. mayor and former union guy, Antonio Villaraigosa aren't mincing words about going after teachers unions.
There is no doubt that unionism in the U.S. has a checkered history including corruption, conservative politics, and dictatorial control by union bosses. However, democratic struggles within unions have also always been part of unionism. In fact in Chicago the democratic forces have recently been victorious. CORE (Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators), led by Karen Lewis, is now THE union in Chicago. United Teachers of Los Angeles, the current target of mayor Villaraigosa, also has a progressive recent history.
Moreover, because a mere 8 percent of private sector workers are unionized, we have no organized group in this country to push back on neo-liberal policies that have gutted the working and middle classes. While many of us are increasingly frustrated with Obama for caving to Republicans on tax breaks for the wealthy, the fact is that without an organized opposition to capitalism's systemic need to seek cheap labor, we are all left vulnerable. This opposition has traditionally been the role of unions, and continues to be so in some countries where they are defending previous working and middle class economic gains.
Teachers unions can also be frustrating. Highly bureaucratic, hierarchical and largely averse to innovation or taking courageous political stands on issues like mayoral control, they tend to place bread and butter issues above all else. However, make no mistake, without teachers unions, teachers' salaries and working conditions would plummet precipitously. If you have any doubt, ask meatpackers, or any other industry that hasn't been outsourced, what they earned in the more unionized 1960s and what they earn today. It is largely the stagnation of wages, coupled with the increased productivity and profits workers produced, that has resulted in so many new millionaires and billionaires. If the goal is to make teaching a more attractive career choice, busting teachers unions will have the opposite effect.
Here's a thought experiment: Education Management companies, like Edison, can't make much money on Education because it is so labor intensive. To make money managing schools, you have to bring down labor costs. In order to do so, you would have to have a narrow test-driven, scripted curriculum in which teachers could be replaced by paraprofessionals or young (cheap) teachers with limited preparation who are not interested in teaching as a career. This is a kind of proletarization of the teaching profession, in which teacher's craft and professional knowledge is broken down into separate parts so that a semi-skilled worker, trained only in classroom management, could implement it. Under such a system, corporate franchises could have, say, four low-wage paraprofessionals cover four elementary classrooms at each grade level, with a floating "master teacher" as coach. Profits would begin to roll in and shareholders would flock to buy education industry stocks. Oh, but wait, we already have such a system in place. The only fly in the ointment is the teachers unions.
So teachers unions must continue to defend teachers' wages, benefits, and pensions, but they will be vulnerable to attack if they allow themselves to be defined as roadblocks to innovation and protectors of bad teachers. Perhaps more ominous, many working class Americans who failed to protect their private sector unions are now turning on teachers, whom they view as overpaid and with fat pensions.
One approach that has begun to change the image of teachers unions is Peer-Assisted Review or PAR. It involves peer evaluation of teachers that addresses teacher induction and development as well as due process issues. The peer evaluator and teacher meet with a board made up of district administrators and union officials who ultimately decide on the outcome of the peer-evaluation. This system not only allows for a more collegial form of evaluation and support, but also involves both the district and the union in decisions about teacher quality. This system has also been shown to be more effective at identifying incompetent teachers and either making them better or moving them out of the system. More in depth information on PAR can be found in Jennifer Goldstein's book, Peer Review and Teacher Leadership: Linking Professionalism and Accountability, and on the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers.
Increasingly, we are seeing both republicans and "new" democrats going after teachers unions. We have got to be prepared to defend teachers unions, while also pressuring them to take courageous political positions and engage in collaborative practices like PAR that show they are willing to work with districts to get rid of bad teachers. They also need to reach out to their international allies, since Neo-liberalism is not just an American phenomenon. Lois Weiner's book, the Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their unions: Stories for resistance, provides a good overview of what some progressive teachers' unions are doing in other countries. Now that Christie, Rhee, and Villaraigosa have made it politically popular (and opportunistic) to go after unions, we will see an avalanche of more explicit anti-union rhetoric and policies. How prepared (and willing) are we to defend teachers unions and to keep pushing them toward progressive change?
Elizabeth Hampton: Teacher Pay: A Smarter Investment for the New Year
AFT - American Federation of Teachers - A Union of Professionals
National Education Association (NEA)
And, my district would lay me off tomorrow if they could find some 22-year-old with no experience whom they could pay $30,000 per year.
THAT is why teachers unions exist, not to protect bad teachers' jobs.
MHO
My nephew is due to graduate from college this spring.He's an Economics major with a minor in History.
He's always loved school and claims he's often considered teaching. He researched teachers salaries nationwide and claimed "It's not going to happen". He's decided to get a post- grad degree in Economics and head to Wall Street .
As for the union, it is there to fight for and protect us against these external reforms, some of which may be well-intentioned, but many others of which (e.g. NJ governor Christie) are designed to undercut education and disempower the middle class even more.
A better world would include anti-poverty measures, universal health care, free early childhood education, decent food, fully funded schools, higher taxes on the wealthy and on and on.
And living in Brooklyn does not mean you know anything about who believes what.
You are part of the problem. You blindly follow the rich and powerful because you lack confidence in your own efficacy--rightly.
Rich people don't know more--they just have more.
I live and teach in Brooklyn at those schools, for 6 years. Not a selective school where unionized teachers teach and I help out. I have helped start and run small schools that serve minority students and get A's on Klein's precious school ratings. I despite your misinformation, these were unionized DOE schools where I have complete control of my curriculum and play a role in setting school wide policies.
And, unlike you, I don't come on HuffPo and claim the union sucks while bragging up a school you worked at (not taught, helping someone else run a class is not the same things as running the class) that actually has union teachers. Thank you for getting out of the classroom.
Your solution, pure gold. Take the one's doing well in schools in that area. Put them in houskin's school. What happens to the rest of the kids? who cares. They're the non selective schools problem. Great strategy!
You don't even understand the real issues in education right now, let alone offer any real solutions.
It is counterintuitive but in mathematics TOO MUCH MONEY is the problem. HS Students are REQUIRED to have high powered calculators. This is written into state standards. By who you ask? Lobbyists for the manufacturers and corrupt math education "specialists" that's who. It is simple to blame HS teachers but their hands are tied. They MUST use this technology. Consequently, I get students who cannot add or subtract even simple numbers. Students will pull out their calculators to compute "4 squared." (I am NOT joking about this.) Last year only 20% of my freshman students were able to pass a 5th grade test on fractions.
To defend this practice corrupt proponents of technology will proudly show that a student can compute (for example) the square root of 2 to ten decimal places. With one piece of mackeral you could also train a porpoise to do the same thing.
my very best students come from the poorest countries on earth. They are taught to DO arithmetic. With that internalized they can then understand algebra which is the abstraction of arithmetic.
If people want to reform the tenure process. Fine. But they also better look at all the profiteers who have decimated the education system with their intellectual snake oil. All I need is chalk and a board.....
As a conservative, I do challenge the tenure system, but I do understand the issues and it's good to hear about the challenges that face our teachers and hog-tie them from doing their jobs. The bureaucracy and politics is at a higher level. I get that.
Join Michelle Rhee; Join Oprah...time has come...1 million strong; $1billion strong.
Loyal Democrat
The saddest part is that, even as America continues to lose it's global dominance and power, you partake in spreading disinformation rather than actually helping to solve the very real issues of poverty and socioeconomic inequality that corporations are working so hard to keep out of the media and the Republicans are banning words such as Wall Street from a report on the economic meltdown.
houskin's assignment for tonight is to read "Culture of Fear" and watch "Outfoxed" Extra credit available for reading "Manufacturing Consent" AND actually showing an iota of understanding of the propaganda model.
I hope someday you and many others are dragged out of Plato's cave so you can stop your obsession with the shadows. (who said introductory philosophy is useless?)
when you own the supreme court you got it all. bye bye unions.
think about what you are up against: the capitalists own the supreme court, soon lower courts, congress, white house who has made it known his dislike for unions, and the mass media and soon the internet.
and most important the capitalists want that education tax money to go private that way they can reduce the wages of the teachers and big bonuses for themselves and wall street scams.
you dont have a prayer and religion wont do you any good as religion and capitialism go hand in hand. ie money thing.
Modernization is the common constant pressure that forces change in industry. With each new change, older methods became obsolete, production was made more efficient, more streamlined, more effective, more valuable. Once Upon A Time, there was a little yellow schoolhouse, with the ABC's on the wall, and a chalkboard, and one teacher, for all subjects. Those days are gone. And, there may come a day when there's no teachers, only students, and work terminals, and then, no students, because they're at home with their private work terminals. There might still be weekly lectures and labs, but the lion's share can be done online. And that is the future of education. The teachers are being digitzed, stored on a hard drive, just like everything else. V'ger is here.
10% of college students in 2008 attended for profit colleges
90% of the money going to for profit universities were from gov't loans/grants
23% of all the loans/grants given out by the gov't
44% of all the gov't loan/grant defaults
33% (5 out of 15) of the publicly traded for profit colleges are owned by Goldman-Sachs
What's rather sickening about it, is it's loading up young people with debt that cannot be discharged like a car-loan, or house-loan. Once these ill-prepared college students have handed their money over to 'lady in her pjs.edu', it's only a matter of time before they drop out. Nightmare! LadyInHerPjs.edu doesn't care, they have their money, and couldn't care less that the student they screwed over is cooked for a second chance at higher education. One example is a college that has 67,000 online students, 1700 recruiters, and only 1 career planner. Shocker, the drop out rate is astronomical.
The GAO found in every for profit college that was investigated, manipulation, fraud, and outright lies. I think everyone can agree that no educational system should be gamed like that.
http://zerosumruler.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/the-free-zerosum-ruler-ebook-download-at-currclick/