Monday, February 05, 2007

 
Teacher Pandering Getting Stale?

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter says it is time for America to stop pandering to teachers, and uses the "hack" word to describe Democratic politicians who engage in the most hard-core bootlicking. And it even has a New York hook:

The good news is that we're getting some leadership in New York, long a bastion of mindless paleoliberalism. Gov. Eliot Spitzer unveiled his first budget last week and it offers a grand bargain on education—much more money in exchange for much more accountability—that should be a national model. Predictably, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in the pocket of teachers unions, objects to Spitzer's plan to allow for more charter schools, even though thousands of low-income parents are on waiting lists to get into them. The president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, called the new governor and tried to buffalo him on charters. She failed.

Spitzer seems game to fight his own party's instinct to pander. "The national Democratic Party has got to understand that real education reform is a central issue both politically and for our economic future," he told me last week. "We have to get our arms around the idea that if there's no performance, you must remove those responsible for the failure." It's a sad commentary on Democrats that they've allowed "educational accountability" to become a winning issue for the GOP.

Don't just read it. Print it out and send it to your relatives and friends.

The Chalkboard thinks the best quote in the piece comes from Chancellor Joel Klein: "If your school gets a D or and F, I'm gonna fire your ass."

Meanwhile, this morning, NY Times readers weigh in on NYC reforms, weighted-student formula, and changing the culture in city schools.
posted by Joe W. at PermaLink 7:08 AM
 

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