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Playing politics with kids’ futures
You may recall that President Obama was soundly criticized when he moved to shut down the DC school vouchers that are a lifeline to thousands of poor black children in Washington - all the while shunning the public school that his own daughters would have been assigned to if the Obamas hadn’t been able to afford the $32,000 tuition at the exclusive private school they chose instead. As this article from the Wall Street Journal reports, President Obama has now reversed himself, signing a budget deal with Republicans that includes a renewal and expansion of the DC voucher program.
If you suspect, as I do, that the President really does care about poor black kids, it must have just about killed him to oppose the DC voucher program. But politics is a blood sport, and the reality is that the President needs the support of the teachers’ unions to get re-elected. The teachers’ unions, arguably the most powerful political lobbying force in the country, are adamantly opposed to any measure that would allow kids to escape their failing public schools.
Politics, it appears, is not a game for sissies.
Thanx for the tip re WSJ. I sent the following to our Vancouver education blog:
Because Teacher Unions Do Harm . . .
Every day we find more information on teacher unions blocking education reform or compromising education effectiveness. Teacher unions are increasingly seen as the problem and not the solution in education issues.
True, teachers as a profession have a valuable contribution to make in personalizing teaching and problem-solving in the schools. BUT NOT professional teacher unionists with die-hard ideological agendas that have ruled BC education since the 70s!
Why, in BC we even have the dubious distinction of producing professional teacher unionists at the Masters level at the SFU public university! http://bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=17580 (First cohort graduates this year.)
Of course people are leery of inviting teachers who are hand-picked by the union! Teacher union power is legendary. See a US teacher unionist talk about POWER http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdfc318E0eg
Just today the Wall Street Journal wrote about how Obama signed a budget deal that includes renewal and expansion of the DC program which finances vouchers for low-income students to attend private schools. His about-face was due to evidence, even in face of strong teacher union opposition. See “The Evidence is In — School Vouchers Work” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396404576283381160558552.html
The BCTF is closely aligned with teacher unions and radical professors from around the world and you can be sure their research is closely tracking the growing resistance to teacher power. Just Google “teacher unions harm education” and you get over 550,000 references. The reason the BCTF is demanding “immediately” that the education budget by increased by $275 million is because strategically that is a union tactic.
When Christy Clark brought in The Public Education Flexibility & Choice Act in 2002 the local unions quickly saw that school boards would become more important and parents would have more voice. The response was to get more educators to become school trustees. Some locals even got signed pledges supporting union causes from candidates in exchange for their support in elections. The last BCTF AGM saw Jim Sinclair, BC Federation of Labor chief, urge even more teachers to become public school trustees. (conflict-of-interest extraordinaire!)
The claim by teacher unions that improving class size and composition will improve special education is hollow and deeply flawed argumentation. Regardless of how workloads may improve — without properly trained personnel those special needs students will not get the education they need. How much longer do we consign our children to be human sacrifices to the machine? This is not an item that should be part of secret collective bargaining!
Without proper research and background information I fear that our decision-makers in BC public education will continue to be sitting ducks — Babes in the Woods — in these farcical “negotiations”.
I agree with those who say we need a new model for education delivery. Bring in vouchers for all students so that competitive choices can provide the freedom and flexibility needed to produce responsive schools for all. Why, even professional teachers would benefit from freedom and flexibility instead of remaining under the rigid union thumb.
(BTW — here is an interesting twist. Ohio superintendents are saying that instead of increased funding they need labor peace. See “Yearning to Break Free — Ohio Superintendents Speak Out http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/publications/2011/20110303_Ohio_YearningtoBreakFree/YearningToBreakFree_FINAL.pdf)