Despite all the controversial stands and policies the two major teachers unions have taken, do they effectively represent teachers? Lieberman repeatedly argues that teachers are not getting their money's worth. Teachers with skills that are in high demand--such as those who teach math and science--must accept the one-size-fits-all salary schedule negotiated by the union. Many find better opportunities outside of teaching, which causes a shortage in the areas where the most skills are needed. And the unions refuse to allow merit pay for the best teachers, arguing that high salaries for a few teachers would necessarily lead to low salaries for most. If this is the case, are the unions conceding that most teachers could not reach some modest, objectively determined goals in order to receive higher salaries? If so, why are they still in the classroom?
The teachers unions' influence in education policy is pervasive. That this control is obtained through political means is often overlooked, but not by Lieberman: "The fact that negotiations exclude other parties in interest does not transform political activity into nonpolitical activity; it only means that we have a political process from which various parties in interest are excluded." By controlling the process, the unions control the pace of change while dictating what those changes will be, whether or not they are in the interest of the teachers they represent.
Lieberman's criticisms of charter schools, however, are less convincing. He argues that the unions--which will be inextricably involved in the process of designing charter-school legislation--will make sure any new schools aren't much different than the ones they replace. Perhaps. But by calling it "wishful thinking to assume that hordes of teachers chafing under bureaucratic restrictions are eager to teach in charter schools, or that large numbers of entrepreneurial teachers are awaiting opportunities to demonstrate how schools should be run," Lieberman ignores the more than 700 charter schools already operating, almost all of which are less than five years old. He fails to distinguish between union activists and education scholars who are wedded to the status quo and classroom teachers who have shown they're willing and able to meet the needs of students abandoned by the public school establishment.
Albert Shanker's legacy has been clouded by his passing. He was eulogized as the union leader who pushed for reform, urging his organization to concentrate on issues other than wages, work conditions, and tenure, such as improved teacher training, higher academic standards, and more innovative school structures. At the same time, the machine that Shanker developed, the hard-nosed, industrial-style labor union, resists systemic change. Through control comes power, and that is what Shanker made sure the teachers unions had.
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