A Bizarro World where teachers are to blame

[proud2BlibKansan]

Teacher and UTLA member Randy Childs explains why the supposedly pro-union LA mayor has jumped on the bandwagon in scapegoating teachers unions.

SPEAKING IN December before the influential Public Policy Institute of California in Sacramento, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched a salvo of incendiary accusations against United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the largest local teachers union in the state, representing about 40,000 teachers and health and human services workers.

In his speech and a corresponding article on the Huffington Post Web site, Villaraigosa called UTLA an "unwavering roadblock to reform," the "loudest opponent and the largest obstacle to creating quality schools" and the "most powerful defenders of the unacceptable status quo."

These charges are all despicable lies. Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric is all too common in current debates around public education. A nationwide chorus of politicians, business executives and billionaires who like to be called "philanthropists" are repeating the same talking points ad nauseam in their campaign to remake public schools in the image and interests of Corporate America.

In what education historian Diane Ravitch calls the "dominant narrative" of education reform today, buzzwords like "accountability" and "choice" are used as window dressing for a concerted effort to impose corporate management techniques and market-style competition on the education system. Teachers unions and anyone else who dares to disagree with this agenda are invariably accused of being "against reform" and "for the status quo."

These allegations come straight from Bizarro World, where the richest and most powerful people in the U.S. are cast as a plucky band of selfless rebels fighting for the civil rights of poor children of color, while dedicated and overworked teachers who can't afford a house or pay for their children's college tuition are imagined to be the greedy overlords of the old order.

more . . . http://socialistworker.org/2011/01/06/anti-teacher-bizarro-world

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Good paragraph that does not exaggerate and adds perspective:

>>>>These allegations come straight from Bizarro World, where the richest and most powerful people in the U.S. are cast as a plucky band of selfless rebels fighting for the civil rights of poor children of color, while dedicated and overworked teachers who can't afford a house or pay for their children's college tuition are imagined to be the greedy overlords of the old order.>>>>>

What *is* going on here?

It's true: I'm at top scale and can't find a decent 2 BR apartment in this city either to buy or rent for myself and minor child.

Yet the "liberal" DEM pols line up overwhelmingly with the.... ummmm... "philanthropists".

We need an alternative to this political system.

IT

IS

NOT

WORKING.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. How do we convince folks?

I'm yelling as loudly as I can.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. If I knew the answer to that...

... I'd know the answer to that.


It seems unlikely that the teaching profession.... by itself, and on its own....is going to be able to withstand the zeitgeist. However logical , however compelling, however reasoned our critique of the "idiot wind" that IS corporate school "reform" , the economic forces arrayed against us are likely irresistible.

That said......as a profession, we've never really identified that strongly with the larger labor union movement in the US. And I think that works both ways, BTW. Much of organized labor doesn't takes us seriously. At least not as "labor".

There's some class snobbery and its evil twin, class envy, involved there too. For our side... we should get over that. We're getting screwed 'cause the corporate class has drawn a bead on us. That's what capital does.... isn't it? Doesn't matter if you'e talking about teachers, pullman porters or construction workers, the boss' interest is keeping wages down, profits up and employees isolated from each other.

This is just a fact of life... having nothing at all w. good / evil. It's just the way the world works.

Ergo, we need to establish/reestablish common cause w. other sectors of the work force.


Secondly , along with the rest of organized labor, we need to reestablish our influence in this Democratic Party of ours. That means working to nominate people for federal office who identify with the ideals of FDR. Hooverism/Coolidgeism/ Hardingism was tried and found wanting in the 20s and 30s.

It has failed us again in the year 2010. We can recognize this and act accordingly, or we can just keep making the same mistakes over and over.

You asked.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. You answered

I think the answer for teachers is uniting with other govt worker unions.

My local leadership is in DC this week working on strategy. I'll be anxious to hear what they were told.

[RedCloud]

3. Oui doughn't knead know ed jew K shun.

There. That's how the gnu minimum wage earner will spell.