Comments

1
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/26…

Taxpayer-funded Scientology schools is already a reality in Florida.
2
Mr. Lyne's comparison to racism is good. His comparison to how to turn-around a business is even better.
3
An apt analogy, since charter schools are largely a throwback to the days of "separate but equal" schools, this time divided by class/income (as well as race).
4
This is EXACTLY the shit my 1st grade teacher girlfriend talks about all the time. Awesome to have it laid out as succinctly and powerfully as this.
5
@3 I've been saying this for some time now. The push for vouchers and charter schools is really just an end around on Brown v. Board.

What these people used to say is that non-whites, with their inferiorities, ruined schools for the good little white kids. Now it is the teachers' fault for letting the non-whites ruin the schools. The only solution for them is to create schools without the underlying problem, those inferior non-white kids.
7
I know right! To disagree with how the union does its job is the same as disagreeing with its purpose and existence! Also, EVIL RACISM.
8
"One of my best friends is..."

"Congress is a bunch of lazy, spendthrift, do-nothings..."

"I love my Congressman, and will continue voting for him..."

Why is it that government by anecdote, in which policy deliberations devolve into "I have this one constituent who wrote me a letter...", works everywhere except with teachers? In any other discussion of government, the equivalent of your kid's great 3rd grade teacher would trump all other thoughts and beliefs.
9
@ 5, vouchers are for sure, but charter schools aren't - not in the wholesale way you state, anyway. They're a good alternative for poor kids who actually want to learn.

The downside to charter schools doesn't come from being "separate but equal," but in the fact that offering alternatives means that the main schools are more and more abandoned to the kids who have no alternative, because of special needs, behavior problems, parents who just don't give a fuck, and the like. Similarly, those schools are likely to cause good teachers to flee, leaving it to the ones who can't get work at "good" schools.
10
@9,

Charter schools underperform public schools. So, no, they're not a good way for motivated poor kids to learn.
11
I'm not anti-union per se, but the union stance that any given employee is entitled to his/her job, to the point that it's virtually impossible to fire an incompetent employee (and even a CRIMINAL employee), is a problem, even more so where employee performance actually matters, like in a school.

Mark Berndt, the teacher who forced his students to eat his semen, was given a $40,000 settlement to resign from his job because the union wouldn't let the school district fire his ass.

Taxpayers are supposed to be happy about that?
12
Seems a bit offensive to the black experience. Teachers aren't being lynched or oppressed, they are being asked to participate in making our schools better for our kids. Some of them are doing just that, but as an organization the teachers union is obstructionist and in favor of the status quo.

You might flip the metaphor here and ask whether the established, entrenched and powerful teachers union is a bit like the racists of the old south: unwilling to change, unable to consider a different way of doing things, and reacting both violently and unreasonably to what most would consider reasonable reforms.
13
Since they've been rejected THREE TIMES by the Washington electorate, I'm pretty surprised this is being run up the flag pole by a supposedly deep Democratic insider money guy.

Sure, allow charter schools. But with a level playing field with public schools: they would have to take EVERYBODY, on demand, no matter how profound their disabilities, low their income, or dismal their academic performance, or insufficient their English language skills. The would have to provide a customized, documented education plan for ALL students with even the most minor issues. The would not be able to dismiss their students for truancy, infractions of rules, and even minor criminal activity. Then we'll see how all this "innovation" really performs.
14
@ 10, you need to read the stats a bit more. Here in Colorado that isn't the truth.

I WOULD vote against them if I still lived in Washington, but not because of a misguided belief that they're about re-establishing segregation. That's something that exists in most public schools already.
15
Should we keep this post in mind the next time some SPD officer "screws up" and the Guild defends him tooth and nail?
16
There's a difference between negotiating for fair wages and benefits, and extortion. Public unions are a menace by their very nature. You want my tax dollars? Earn them. From what I've seen, public school teachers aren't.
17
Professor Lyne's argument is powerful. Cut the crap! All this charter school talk and "let's end last in, first out" is all about busting unions. Pure and simple. Dress it up. Put some lipstick on it. It's still a pig and stinks!

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