This is an excellent article, written by NYC charter school teacher Allison LaFave.
It was prompted by Bob Schieffer’s off-hand remark during the last Presidential debate that “We all love teachers.”
Do we all love teachers?
Why don’t we trust them to manage their classrooms?
Why must they be evaluated by the test scores of their students?
Why do so many politicians want to take away their collective bargaining rights?
Why are legislatures reducing them to voiceless robots whose sole job is to raise test scores?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=n2rpO75ZFQ0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dn2rpO75ZFQ0
Have been an educator for 40 years. Looking back, treatment of teachers with lack of support and lack of respect has not changed much. US teachers have not had the status that other successful countries practice. Looooong history of communicating that anyone can teach. Legislators have generally voted to imply that all teachers have to be watched and squeezed to assure that they do their job. What a pile of cr-p!
I triple-dare all legislators to take the mandated high school tests in their state and post their results, immediately! Let’s see how smart and educated these folks are!
How dare they!
Compounding the treatment of teachers, NCLB, RT3, $$$, charter schools… Things are in the toilet!
Will the last teacher escort the last child out of the building and turn off the lights!
I would like to have all legislators take an exam on U.S. history and the Constitution in order for them to keep their positions. We will, of course, post their scores, and dismantle any legislatures with high failure rates.
This article is outstanding. It is the absolute truth about what is happening in charter schools right now. I have worked in two and know they are a farce. We have 3 copiers that constantly break down. We have spotty technology that barely works. There are barely any supplies for teachers and the turnover is tremendous. Teachers just literally walk out and quit. But guess what? The CEO and their family have BMWs, fancy suits, and big houses. They have a sham board that does nothing to check their power. The local media does nothing to report the truth. What has happened to teachers in this country is a crime. Please keep telling the truth and revealing the corrupt politicians and cronies.
Diane, have you ever considered either having yourself or others you are connected with research how money is spent in the charter?. People need to know where the money is going. Our media does nothing. Have you ever considered actually reporting each school’s turnover and use of money? I know this is hard to do because of the secrecy and lack of accountability. Somehow there needs to be an informal network or something where people can reveal what they have experienced and seen. It is bad out here. This article tells the truth.
I do not believe public sector employees have a moral “right” to collective bargain over anything. In the private sector collective bargaining is justifiable because both parties are independent of government. Public sector unions have abused their power by contributing to the campaigns of legislators who would then turn around and give their members unsustainable salaries and benefits (e. g. defined benefit pensions). The whole point of charters and voucher privatization of schools is to break this unholy connection between public unions and legislators. In Michigan the unions have managed to get a proposal on to the ballot that would put the “right” of public sector unions to bargain collectively in to the State Constitution. It is an overreaching power grab. If it is defeated, there may be a Republican push back to turn the state into a right to work state, although the current governor, Snyder, was originally against it.
Oh, and are we to assume that the big, bad public employee unions are the only organized interests contributing to local and state politicians?
If your point was valid – it has no validity whatsoever – then how do you account for the widespread attacks on public employees occurring nationwide, and endorsed by both major political parties?
Yes, layoffs, school closings, test-based evaluations and merit pay, privatization, all proof positive of the hegemonic power of those occult teacher unions!
Your right-wing talking points transact at a very high discount on this site.
It is clear, Michael Fiorillo, that YOU are not buying. The counter attack on the previously hegemonic unions is being successful, that’s all. They have forfeited their moral right in the eyes of the public. Scott Walker beat the recall because the people supported his policy. The right is emboldened by its success so far. Look for more privatization to come. The “public” schools have been additionally tainted by their association with “big government.” If R/R are elected look for more vouchers everywhere, even in Medicare for people presently 50 and under. The problem is to provide enough supervision to keep schools accountable. The progressive idea that a whole nation can be brainwashed by getting control of public education is over now. The ultimate philosophical ideal is universal home schooling. But most parents don’t know enough to do it, so they will contract out to private providers. The time of the public school is over because the public school systems of the country, and especially in the big cities did not keep the implied contract with the citizenry. “Free public schools” were never free. When their staffs began assuming they were entitled to their jobs, the society reacted and rejected that premise. NO ONE is “entitled” to a job or an education, although it may be sound public policy to provide it.
You do not speak for the public.
Of course, I don’t speak for the “public.” I’m just giving my impression of the situation. That’s just standard practice to phrase an interpretation as I have done. I certainly don’t speak for anyone who voted to recall Walker, but by a sort of metonymy I can say I speak for the winning side. In any case, I gather that you are one member of the public for whom I do not speak, Dienne. But just saying that I don’t speak for everyone is obvious. I’d be much more interested in hearing what your own personal take is on things such as Scott Walker’s victory in the recall election, or the truly curious phenomenon of the Secretary of Education in the Obama administration continuing to push what I along with Diane see as a truly destructive testing agenda. I don’t understand how Obama can continue to support the privatization and destruction of the public school system. Teachers’ unions, at least traditional ones, are part of his core constituency. REFORM unions, such as the one in Chicago which faced down Emanuel actually hold out some hope for maintaining the old line focus of the public school systems on educating every one. I can see why Karen Lewis has support. In an interview I saw, she said that she simply ignored Core Curriculum and Race to the Top classroom mandates. She is a long time Chemistry teacher. She said, As long as I’m getting good results, I ignore the NCLB requirements. That’s someone worth listening to.
Oh yes, private providers will save the world. Kinda like the private colleges that no working class person can afford or the private defense contractors that employee high-powered lobbyists to get their lucrative contracts and keep us in war. Oh yes, private educational services will have no influence on politics, just like private insurance companies and private energy companies don’t influence our national policy. Oh yes, this set-up will OBVIOUSLY be so much better for the majority of America as history has shown.. How much more naive can a person get? Your argument against public unions and locally controlled schools is devoid of logic.
I am much more concerned about the unholy connection between ALEC and legislators.
We need to be concerned about both, equally. Unions are not disinterested players on the political scene, nor are corporations. Why, Alan, are you MORE concerned about ALEC than say, the UAW or AFT?
Good lord, teachers, the least paid 4-year degreed professionals in this country work more hours than any other educators on the planet, these human beings, make up the AFT. Why do banks feel like they have the “right” to get bailed out? Im a parent and universal home schooling sounds like a ridiculous idea that will send all of us back to idiotic tribalism.
You’re joking, right? Are you trying to say that UAW or AFT have anywhere near the power that ALEC does? I actually hope you’re getting paid to come on blogs like this and spout drivel like this. Otherwise, your intelligence is in serious question.
The equivalence you claim between teacher’s unions/UAW and ALEC is totally false, as are most of your assumptions.
Not only do the unions have nowhere near the power represented by ALEC, the unions also represent a far, far greater cross section of society, namely, people who work for a living, rather than the rentier 1/10 of 1%, most of whose ever-increasing wealth is based on extracting that of others.
Michael Fiorello has summed it up nicely.
seems a troll just popped up.
Troll (Internet), an internet term for a person who, through willful action, attempts to disrupt a community or garner attention and controversy through provocative messages.
I turn into stone if sunlight hits me.
meaning falstaff35