Reformy Chalkbeat Pretends to Care About Union
Chalkbeat, in an effort to be "fair and balanced," ran a piece on whether unions help or hurt schools. I can't really say whether they do this out of sheer ignorance or a desire to appear less reformy thank they obviously are, but either way it's shallow misleading nonsense. Here are the two sides of the story, according to Chalkbeat:
One finds that states with stronger unions saw more of the money earmarked for education actually reach classrooms, which in turn helps student learning.
Another shows that weakening unions in Wisconsin led to increases in the share of college students training to be teachers, potentially reducing teacher shortages.
So let's look at these two things--One says more money reaches classrooms. That's a clear benefit, and there's no ambivalence there. School money ought to be spent in classrooms, as opposed to 800K salaries for the likes of Eva Moskowitz. Of course that's likely as not debatable over at reformy Chalkbeat. Those of us who actually work in classrooms (or trailers, or half-classrooms) certainly know better.
The other says more people want to be teachers. So the first question in my mind is this--why are people stupid enough to want to work for less money and pay more for health insurance? The second is whether or not these people are qualified to be teachers. (There is, of course the wave of teacher walkouts across America. Chalkbeat, evidently, has not noticed that when you suppress union, this is a predictable and repeated side effect. Chalkbeat can't be bothered to factor a national phenomenon that shows no sign of abating into their analysis. And why should they? Isn't it better to just ignore what's going on and play to their base?)
It turns out that somehow, under the complicated agreements developed after Wisconsin trashed union, beginning teachers might get paid more money. There are incentives, or something. I can see how that might be a draw. No more of that paying CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Reformy Chalkbeat Pretends to Care About Union