Left Wing USA Today Supports Education Revolution
The New York City teachers union, United Federation of Teachers (UFT), has sued to block the city from opening 20 more charter schools. USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham is calling the NAACP’s support for the lawsuit “revolutionary,” and is throwing his support behind their revolution.
Wickham says that the disproportionate number of African Americans in New York’s charter schools (they make up only 30% of New York City’s 1 million public school students, but 60% of the students in the city’s 125 charter schools) is due to the fact that black parents see the charter schools as the only way out of their low performing neighborhood schools. Quoting Albert Memmi, he criticizes this exodus to charter schools as a revolt that can only bring about reforms, when what is needed is a revolution “to wipe out a system of oppression.”
Wickham argues that public school systems oppress black children more than they educate them. When parents demand better, they get charter schools, essentially “a way to vent their anger, not fix the problem.” What makes the NAACP perspective revolutionary, according to