The Wall Street Journal is a fierce, unrelenting advocate of privatization. It loves vouchers and charters. It despises public schools and teachers’ unions. It is contemptuous of teachers. It recently published an editorial claiming that members of the NAACP were “in revolt” against the national organization, which has called for a moratorium on charters. The resolution, passed in 2016, was not passed frivolously. It was preceded by the work of a task force that held hearings in seven cities, listening to parents.
Black Lives Matter Organization also called for a charter moratorium at the same time as the NAACP. I mention this because a charter advocate on Twitter belittled the NAACP by saying its members were aging and out of touch. He could not say the same about BLM. Frankly, the fact that the far-right libertarian Wall Street Journal supports charters is reason enough to question the motives behind the charter “movement.” Unlike the civil rights movement, which had a broad base among people of color, the drive for charters is financed by hedge fund managers, equity investors, entrepreneurs, and major corporations. These are not bastions of progressivism. Nor is Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal.
Derrick Johnson, president of the National NAACP, answered the editorial.
He wrote:
Regarding your May 7 editorial “An NAACP Revolt on Charters”: Let us be clear—a quality education should be provided to all children. As we commemorate the 65th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, we continue to face a legacy problem that can only be fixed if our nation commits to prioritizing education and reforming inadequate and unequal operations that only continue to harm students.
In 2016 the NAACP called for a moratorium on charter-school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice. The charter-school system lacks necessary transparencies and clear accountability, as it siphons off funds from already underresourced school districts. As for public schools, they lack the required support from policy makers to acquire well-paid, quality teachers for students who are most in need, without unnecessary bureaucracy and over-testing.
The NAACP has been a strong supporter of public education and has denounced movements toward privatization that divert public funds to support nonpublic school choices. We have demanded that children and teachers in charter schools have the same civil rights and protections as children and teachers in traditional public schools. We have also demanded that levels of oversight and transparency in charter schools, at a minimum, be comparable to traditional public schools.
Because of this, it is clear that the information in your editorial is not representative of the findings of the LA School Report and policy decisions agreed upon during our annual convention in 2016. The unit resolutions were considered by our national committee and did not pass, therefore our national position is the only position of the association.
It is unconscionable to have children attend any schools—public or private charter—that are inadequately and inequitably equipped to prepare them for the innovative and competitive environment they will face as adults. The U.S. has one of the most unequal school-funding systems of any country in the industrialized world, and education funding has been inadequate and unequal for students of color for decades.
As our nation continues to struggle to fully invest in the quality education, we must remember that this fight is far from over because separate can never be equal.
Derrick Johnson
President, NAACP
Baltimore
The NAACP did not arrive at its conclusion in a capricious manner. It listened to parents’ concerns. All that is new is not necessarily better. Privatization is a perfect example. It is the will of the 1% backed by dark money, and it has nothing to do with civil rights. So-called choice is a red herring designed to offer less to poor communities than democratic, accountable public education. Charters monetize education and young people for the benefit of wealthy investors. Charters are corporate schools that have no more to do with civil rights than the company store that coal miners were forced to use did. Most charters are not designed to elevate young black and brown students. They are designed to take away their rights and “keep them in their place.”
The Wall Street Journal was always right-leaning because its stated goal was to be the “newspaper of record” for American business. This was the place you went to if you wanted to know how particular stocks were doing, what mergers or acquisitions were afoot, who was likely to become CEO of x corporation, and so on. But it was staffed by capable journalists, and it presented a variety of viewpoints, though generally with a pro-market, pro-business orientation. Of course, there was a LOT of concern when right-wing extremist and tabloid publisher Rupert Murdoch, owner of Faux News, announced his intention to buy it. And there followed the assurances that the paper would retain its editorial independence and integrity.
If you believe that one, you will believe that Trump started with “a small loan” from his father and isn’t in the pocket of Vladimir Putin or that Kenyan-born Muslim President Barack Obama put chemicals in the water to turn high-school kids transgender.
For months now, the WSJ has been running opinion pieces bashing teachers, bashing unions, promoting the “no obstruction/no collusion” myth, warning about immigrants, warning about the evils of Socialized Medicine and Socialism generally, and so on. And these are as extreme as anything you might hear from Tucker Carlson. I call it, now, the Wall Street Journal of Corporate Apologetics and Trumpeteering. It’s become just another polemical rag.
Great Routine Intro: “[T]here was a LOT of concern when right-wing extremist and tabloid publisher Rupert Murdoch, owner of Faux News, announced his intention to buy it. And there followed the assurances that the paper would retain its editorial independence and integrity.
If you believe that one….”
Yeah, kinda like
“After walking out of a meeting yesterday with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, comic books supervillain and part-time President Donald Trump gathered staffers together to attest to the boss’s stability and genius. Here’s what the staffers said:
“Nobody snorts Adderall like the big guy.”
“Some cheeseburgers and television–he practically babysits himself.”
saddest and scariest thing about not only Trump but so may of his followers is that he appears to be unable to make a distinction between what is TV and what is reality. This is perhaps actually a disease, a growing one?
“He pays very close attention to briefings about what someone said about him.”
He played a great businessman on TV.
“He has a great imagination. Ask him how much wall he’s finished.”
“He started with 500K from his father and turned it into 1.5 billion in losses. No one else has ever come close to that record.”
“He’s kept more promises than he even made.”
The venerable editor of the Wall St Journal, Vermont C Royster, graduated with my Aunt Virginia. He was an impeccable journalist. His generation knew impartiality and responsibility.
It’s really sickening what has happened there. Must be really appalling for the actual journalists on the staff.
Journalists don’t work for the WSJ. The paper employs propagandists.
Writers from the Center for American Progress and its sister organization, DFER, could easily transition to the WSJ.
The WSJ needs to set the record straight and publish NAACP President Derrick Johnson’s letter. He is correct, the fight continues today to truly overcome the Plessy v Ferguson ruling supported my this misleading article in the WSJ, and separate is never equal. The article declared “good news from the front lines,” confirming the existence of a current war against Civil Rights. If the WSJ unethically fails to publish the letter it will cement forever its position as propaganda on the wrong side of history.
So well said. Exactly.
LCT: Mr. Johnson’s letter was, indeed, published in the May 17th (Page 18) WSJ in its entirety. Please go back to Diane’s previous “Journey for Justice” post, on May 23rd. I commented about all the ed.
articles, letters to the ed. (my comment on that post near bottom, I think, at 5:11 PM), etc., & I urged you all to read the WSJ at your local library (or online, if you can get it for free–which you probably can’t). As I stated, if you go back to my comment, it is well-worth reading (notice, though, I’m not suggesting you have to buy it!).
&–before you comment on this comment, do go back & read my comment on 5/23: I anticipate what you might say/ask, & I believe I’d have answered already.
Kudos to the NAACP!!
If the WSJ spent their time setting the record straight, they would never have time for anything else.
And the WSG long ago cemented their propagandist position. And as everyone knows, cement gets harder with age.
The WSJ did publish the letter, which is where I found it, thanks to-a friend with a subscription.
Good!
You gotta love Johnson’s slap at TFA:
As for public schools, they lack the required support from policy makers to acquire well-paid, quality teachers for students who are most in need, ”
Of course, they acquire the TFA teachers every year ( because that’s how long they stay). The problem is that their quality is poor.
Last year in Indianapolis, NPE was honored to have Derrick Johnson as our keynote speaker. He rocked the house and challenged all of us. No platitudes.
A really beautiful letter from Mr. Johnson!
Yes, Bob. &–bears repeating–please do read the WSJ (while I don’t recommend buying it, read it in a library {or perhaps your spouse, S.O., roommate or parent(s) subscribe, then read theirs (or your neighbor’s!). There are often education articles
(Diane, another of interest–that I’d mentioned in your “Journey for Justice” post in comments–was that explaining the new SAT additional factoring into scores (forget what it’s called. The author interviewed our fiend–er, friend–David Coleman. Very interesting.)
& then, there are always letters w/opposing views. If you read something outrageous {like the article “Sanders Chooses Teachers Unions Over Black Votes”} you, too, can write a letter!
Keep reading, writing & fighting!
A thoughtful and well written but strong letter from Mr. Johnson. The one thing which he noted is that Public Schools continue to be less than effective for the poorer classes. Hopefully our policy makers will see some way to finance the kinds of schools we need, better train our teachers, and put in place regulations which will allow our teachers to better solve the problems which exist.
Reading Ms. Darling-Hammond shows that Finland, Japan, Shanghai, Australia and Canada have made meaningful changes, which improve teacher interaction and collaboration and fosters teacher professionalism and respect for teachers.
We need to do likewise. The work of Ms. Ravitch, NPE, BADASS Teachers Association, Los Angeles Teachers, has been a part of the movement toward a better Public Education System, and will continue to be. It takes time but it will happen. Already a person like Bernie has committed to bringing balance and restraint to the Charter expansion. There is hope.
More than hope…yes WE did, yes WE can & yes, yes WE WILL!!
Keep writing & fighting!