The Weekly Update: The Chicago teachers strike and where it all began
The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed.
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Who Is Victimizing Chicago’s Kids?
Yes, schoolchildren in Chicago are victims, but not of their teachers. They are victims of a nationwide education “reform” movement geared to undermine teachers’ unions and shift public resources into private hands; they are victims of wave after wave of ill-conceived and failing policy “innovations”; they are victims of George Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, which turned inner-city public schools into boot camps for standardized test prep; they are
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Words can’t begin to express my gratitude for this. I’m a very proud middle school reading teacher in CPS. I strike not by choice as the mayor has stated but on principle. You have clearly articulated why I am on the picket. My students deserve better. We bailed out the banks while allowing public schools to fail. I stand up for public education and demand that we not allow companies to run schools. I stand up for worker’s rights and for the rights of the poor. Thank you.From Dissent magazine, Joanne Barkin writes:
Who Is Victimizing Chicago’s Kids?
Yes, schoolchildren in Chicago are victims, but not of their teachers. They are victims of a nationwide education “reform” movement geared to undermine teachers’ unions and shift public resources into private hands; they are victims of wave after wave of ill-conceived and failing policy “innovations”; they are victims of George Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, which turned inner-city public schools into boot camps for standardized test prep; they are