Teachers speak up to refute claims of reformers.
The reformers assert that unions are the root problem of American education because they protect bad teachers.
The answer: Get rid of unions so wise administrators or charter school operators can fire bad teachers.
One letter here says it is the job of administrators to deny tenure to bad teachers and to evaluate teachers.
Maybe our problem is weak or incompetent administrators, those people who came through faux leadership programs.
If unions were “the problem,” we would expect to find high performance in right to work states.
But we don’t.
On the NAEP, the highest performing states are Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, all strong union states (up until now).
The lowest performing states do not permit collective bargaining.
Should we aspire to be like Massachusetts or Louisiana?
What do you think?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here is what I sent to Frank. I have not received a reply, nor was the letter printed.
Dear Frank,
Having followed you for many years, I have tremendous respect and admiration for you and your work. You consistently demonstrate deep consideration of issues and reflective approach. And your writing often takes my breath away. You are a brilliant, beautiful writer.
Certainly, I ought to have written earlier – when my comments would not include any hint of “however.” My apologies for this. I know how much kind words mean to a writer (and how rare such words can be).
I am writing now, however, to beg you to take a closer, analytical look at the forces aligned against public education. In the past few weeks, the Times, itself, published an editorial praising a pseudo-scientific report entitled “The Irreplaceables.” This past weekend, a piece addressed the teacher tenure issue in article that was clearly biased.
I am a lifelong educator who spent over a decade as a high school English teacher. I am currently a teacher educator at SUNY New Paltz. My philosophical, political stance is critical: I have worked with and against union leadership during my career. But, honestly, the contemporary attempt to privatize and standardize education is terrifying. It commodifies student and teacher labor and is likely to weaken our democracy.
To have a sense of why the issue is not teacher defensiveness, I invite you to read Frank’s piece in the most recent issue of Harper’s. The conservative forces that have hijacked the political process are in the process of destroying public schools. Destroying teacher unions (and tenure that is simply a right to due process, not a job for life) is an essential component of this assault.
Plans are multifaceted and in various phases of implementation. They include charter schools (and their private management companies), Teach for America (displacing teachers and taking over policy leadership positions), NCTQ, imported educators, school vouchers, Common Core Standards, the Teacher Performance Assessment, and the parent trigger law. Recent media bashing teachers (some under the guise of support) include Waiting for Superman, American Teacher, Bad Teacher, and Don’t Back Down.
Of course, you have access to a vast array of data; however, please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss any of this further.
I fear for our future if Times journalists do not investigate and report on the attack on public education.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Best regards,
Julie Gorlewski
In our district, the union is NOT the problem. The union could leave tomorrow and nothing would change.
The problem is, our district has mandates they follow along with the strings that are attached to the money they receive.
So they sell their soul for $$$.
I think the teachers are the kids’ only hope in our district. THey do their best in spite of the lousy materials they have to use.
The problem is, what they use works against academic excellence so parents still have to use tutoring services.
I suspect that in some of the more urban districts, the union can be a problem. However I’d still argue that if the union was removed today, we’d still see significant problems in public education.
Try to keep up, People.
The corporate-owned media sold out the public somewhere around 30 years ago. They are not listening and they never will listen because their corporate owners are jockeying to position themselves as the main delivery mechanism for the corporate-owned reform school industry.
Seriously, you are wasting your breath pleading with these corporate lackeys.
There will have to be another way.
All true. But, as Chris Hedges notes, we don’t fight tyrants because we expect to win. We fight because they are tyrants.
What is your recommended approach?
The economic royalists are not just determined to extinguish teacher unions (tenure, seniority, LIFO, pensions) but all unions. With the overall unionization rate down to 11.8%, they are close to accomplishing their goal of a total marginalization and gutting of unions.
It is absolutely an administrative responsibility and an undisclosed issue of accountability. If and where there are ineffective or incompetent teachers, it is due to a long-term failure to take care of business. Teachers who demonstrate significant inadequacies or lack of initiative during the first three years of employment ( a probationary period in my state) should be immediately identified and have appropriate opportunities for guided improvement. No improvement? Then they should be exited from the profession. If there are 15-20 year teachers who are clearly ineffective, then somebody has some serious explaining to do. Teachers do not go bad, like apples. If they are weak now, they have been weak for a long time. Why would any principal keep a novice teacher who is not good or great? In our state, they can be exuted with no due process–just not invited back, and certainly not granted tenure–which is JUST A GUARANTEE OF DUE PROCESS IF TERMINATED.
It is not hard to exit ineffective teachers. It takes time and diligence, and the capacity to follow the damned guidelines. If the process is clearly violated, then, you bet, as a union leader, I am going to step in to stop or alter the process–to enforce the language and intention of the evaluation process to which BOTH parties have agreed–either at the state or district level.
Please note: I choose not to use the terms bad teacher, failing school, or education / school reform. Bad teacher is like bad dog–meaningless–it does not identify the problem. Failing school is a misnomer–there is not a single school where everything and everyone is “failing.” There are good things happening somewhere in each and every one of our schools. We call the other thing school improvement–which is a concept and task to which I have been dedicated throughout my 40-year career.
(My comments don’t seem to be getting through. Here’s another try without links.)
Re: “What is your recommended approach?”
I spent some time thinking about this question. I put the best answer I can think of right now in a blog post, copied here:
To Avoid The Abyss
We have come to the edge of a moral abyss. The abyss is telling us — “Stop. Do not go this way. Turn and go another way.”
A simple message. Easy to obey. But there may be other forces in play.
Is there too much whirring in our ears and heads to hear what the abyss is saying? Are we going too fast, have too much momentum in a single direction to stop in time? Are there people pushing us toward the abyss? — they call themselves leaders, but they walk behind. Are there people pulling us toward the abyss? — they call themselves leaders, the already lost.
It will take each individual stopping and asking, “Who are the real enemies of freedom? Who are the real enemies of truth?” It will take each individual stopping and saying, “No, I will not go this way. I will not teach the lie anymore.”
That is what it will take …
I agree, absolutely, with this. But I guess I also think that part of the resistance, the determination to stop (and encourage others to stop), involves speaking out. That is why I keep writing letters that don’t get published and showing up at commissioner fora where I don’t get to speak.
Standing still in this neoliberal environment is not an option. Refusing to teach a lie means teaching – and speaking – the truth. Books, articles, chapters and blogs are part of the dialogue, as is CNN and the NYTimes (however co-opted they have become) because our membership may still be part of these audiences.
Finally, it is important to acknowledge that citizens are in various stages of “waking up.” We must invite all to participate in the dialogue. Solidarity and action are essential.
Dr. Ravitch, I think you make a lot of sense. We need to objectify our strategies and an action plan in response to the takeover efforts by neo-colonial privateers. So many teachers are becoming victim to the dilemma of continuing to teach or of opting out of the policy attacks and privatizations of schools supported by strong bipartisanship in DC and in an increasing number of states and communities.