Parents, Teachers and Unions: Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Parents, Teachers and Unions: Can’t We All Just Get Along?
by Susan Naimark
Widespread shuttering of public schools has filled the news this month — from New York to Chicago, Philadelphia to Birmingham, Ala. Triggered by a convergence of forces, including the growth of charter schools, new accountability systems, and dwindling state budgets, the atrophying of our nation’s public education systems should be cause for alarm. This divestment does not bode well for the development of our nation’s most precious long-term asset, namely, our children.
Our public schools are failing too many children, to be sure. This should be a wake-up call for public school parents and teachers to come together. Yet we’ve more often positioned ourselves on opposite sides of the educational debates. Meanwhile, the educational battleground has been taken over by larger interests who have no particular accountability to any of us, let alone the general public: multimillion-dollar corporate foundations,
Widespread shuttering of public schools has filled the news this month — from New York to Chicago, Philadelphia to Birmingham, Ala. Triggered by a convergence of forces, including the growth of charter schools, new accountability systems, and dwindling state budgets, the atrophying of our nation’s public education systems should be cause for alarm. This divestment does not bode well for the development of our nation’s most precious long-term asset, namely, our children.
Our public schools are failing too many children, to be sure. This should be a wake-up call for public school parents and teachers to come together. Yet we’ve more often positioned ourselves on opposite sides of the educational debates. Meanwhile, the educational battleground has been taken over by larger interests who have no particular accountability to any of us, let alone the general public: multimillion-dollar corporate foundations,