Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > August > 04
Friday, August 4, 2006
Unions in education
(Teachers rally near San Diego)
It’s been one of those weeks. I’ve been so focused on Dayton’s big news, I’ve written about almost nothing else on the blog. However, there were a couple very interesting posts out there in the edusphere I wanted to mention, because I thought together they were a fine example of how blogs can, at times, prompt an interesting and honest discussion on a sensitive issue.
If you read blogs regularly, you know there is a lot of shouting and name calling out here, which is why I enjoyed a recent debate between Leo Casey, who blogs for the United Federation of Teachers’s Edwize blog, and Joe Williams, a former education journalist and author of the book “Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education” who blogs on behalf of the New York Charter Schools Association at The Chalkboard.
Joe’s book details several examples of unions behaving badly when it comes to schools, and he kicked off this debate at the end of a long post in which he gently asked some pointed questions about unions:
Does relying on traditional collective bargaining agreements to ensure “respect” take the heat off management to otherwise treat employees “respectfully”??? Does it force the union to constantly make sure the rank-and-filers are as miserable as humanly possible so they will exert angry pressure every time a contract comes up for renewal??? Is this the best we can do for teachers and students?? Is it possible there is a better way to do this??
Back at Edwize, Leo responds with a very personal account of why unions matter for teachers and for kids in his view.
If you’re interested in the debate over unions in education, both posts are worth reading. And kudos to Leo and Joe for tacking an emotional issue with passion but also with level heads.
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