Monday, December 3, 2012

Jersey Jazzman: A New Generation of Mendacity

Jersey Jazzman: A New Generation of Mendacity:


A New Generation of Mendacity

I swear, folks, I could do this 24/7, and I would still never be able to keep up with all of the mendacity:
I’m a teacher and a union member — and a member of the new majority. Not long after the Chicago teachers strike ended, I had dinner with lifelong Democrats. Instead of support for a revitalized union movement or sympathy for the plight of teachers, the conversation included such comments as: “The last thing teachers unions think about are students,” “Teachers unions haven’t addressed teacher-quality issues, especially with the weakest teachers” and “Teachers unions have to start focusing on something other than pay and tenure.
Dude, maybe you should have turned to your dinner companions and explained to them that the Chicago strike was not about "pay and tenure"! The CTU and CPS were actually very close on salary before the strike. And tenure was not an issue, as tenure is written into state law. The primary issues in Chicago were merit pay, using