...as the popular Slate blogger takes a look at the report from “Citizens Commission on Civil Rights" (see our post here), which describes the NEA’s and AFT’s strident and lengthy opposition to education reform. Kaus declares that “the tide of respectable opinion has decisively turned against the teachers’ unions” when a panel composed of Father Hesburgh, Birch Bayh, Bill Bradley, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Roger Wilkins “goes medieval on them." He concludes,
In other words, it implicitly serves as an argument against trying to reform the schools in cooperation with the unions, and in favor of trying to reform the schools by defeating the unions.
Whoa! Though maybe Kaus is right – when NEA members boo Arne Duncan when he mentions merit pay (one teacher yelled out, “that’s union-busting!") or makes an allusion to a successful charter school (Green Dot), then maybe the union leadership really is too far gone.
The teachers aren't, though. What will it take for the representees to see that they're being poorly served by a beaurocracy that sneers at meaningful ways to raise student achievement? They can't enjoy being treated like widgets. Is there any chance for an insider rebellion, a grassroots mutiny? Or is it as hopeless as Kaus thinks?