Hillary And The Education History That Teachers Can’t Forget
When Hillary Clinton was booed at the National Education Association annual convention for a pro-charter statement, teachers weren’t attacking the precise wording of her sentence. They were booing the fact that the candidate was repeating the latest corporate reform soundbite. Moreover, the NEA enthusiastically responded to Hillary’s bridge-building, and it heard her promise to do what teachers want the most from officeholders. We want to be partners. We want to be re-invited by a president to our “seat at the table.” We want a president — not just a presidential candidate — who says and believes, “I have this old-fashioned idea that when we are making decisions about education, we actually should listen to our educators.”
As the Atlantic Magazine’s Emily Deruy explains in the aptly titled “Hours Before Campaign with Obama, Clinton Tries to Distance Herself on Education,” Hillary correctly said “‘We’ve got no time for all these education wars,’” But “the line didn’t go over so well.” By now, we should all agree with the candidate that standardized testing “should go back to its ‘original purpose’ of helping teachers and parents figure out which kids need support,” but we can’t forget the last eight years when bubble-in scores were used as ammunition in an assault by charters and corporate reformers on traditional public schools, the teaching profession, and teachers unions.
To understand why teachers unions, despite our long history as team players in the quest for civil rights, equality, and justice are so worried that we, once again, will be thrown under the bus by Democrats, a little history must be recalled. This tragic story of Democrats caring more about corporate interests than public education unfolded gradually over the last two decades.
In 1999, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at the NEA and “received wild applause for virtually every point she made and received several standing Hillary And The Education History That Teachers Can't Forget - Linkis.com: