Sunday, November 25, 2012

How Teachers Unions Lead the Way to Better Schools | toteachornototeach

How Teachers Unions Lead the Way to Better Schools | toteachornototeach:


How Teachers Unions Lead the Way to Better Schools

How Teachers Unions Lead the Way to Better Schools
Contrary to mainstream wisdom, poverty and inequality cause
failing schools, not teachers unions and the teachers themselves.
BY Amy Dean
I have a concern: Teachers are getting pummeled. Too often, they are being demonized in the media and blamed by politicians for being the cause of bad schools. Right-wing governors, power-hungry mayors and corporate “reformers”—all ignoring root issues such as poverty and inequality—have scapegoated the people who have devoted their lives to educating our children. Moreover, these forces are seeking to destroy the collective organizations formed by educators: teachers unions.
The stakes for our country could not be more profound. The labor movement and the public education system are two critical institutions of American democracy. And they are two that go hand in hand. Teachers unions have