Regarding education reform, Romney needs to pound on the facts, leaving his detractors to pound on the table. Recently Mitt Romney laid out his education vision in a speech at the Latino Coalition’s annual economic summit in Washington D.C. The Republican candidate for president didn’t mince words. He said that we are in the midst...
Recently dubbed “the worst union in America,” the California Teachers Association does its best to live down to its new moniker. Troy Senik’s “The Worst Union in America,” is a deadly accurate piece which appears in the Spring 2012 edition of City Journal. Not surprisingly, the author was referring to the California Teachers Association, the...
The May 2012 issue of “California Educator,” published by the California Teachers Association – that’s “teachers union” in plain English – has a two page political ad on pages 20 and 21 that urges teachers to fight a state initiative that will be on California’s November ballot. The text of this ad, which can be...
Latest temblor to hit the Golden State is a lawsuit that could result in a major tectonic shift in education. In September of 1975, due to New York City’s dire fiscal situation, I was laid off from my teaching position at P.S. 125 in Harlem. I lost my job not because I was a bad...
The teachers union not only plays the poverty card, but by battling reforms, ensures that the impoverished will remain that way. “No Education Reform Without Tackling Poverty, Experts Say,” is the title of an article on the National Education Association website. Experts? A trip into the weeds leads to something called the Center on Poverty,...
The NEA says that May 4th should be devoted to anti-bullying. Okay, and to be fair, I suggest that we start with the biggest organized bullies in the country – the teachers unions themselves. The National Education Association celebrated “Stand Up To Bullying Day” on May 4th. Its website is full of advice about how...
If education reformers stick to principle and don’t back down, all other obstacles to victory can be overcome. Recently, Andrew Rotherham wrote a short piece in The Atlantic in which he describes “The 3 Main Obstacles in the Way of Education Reform”. The first obstacle he mentions is that currently “We buy reform.” Or at...
The president of the National Education Association continues to promote ideas that are anti-American and are turning our kids into progressive, anti-wealth, equality-obsessed robots. Last week, the drone-like National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel gave a talk at the annual gathering of the Nebraska State Education Association. He unleashed the same tired old class...
Tax Freedom Day is April 17th. Freedom from teacher union extortion? To be announced. The National Education Association has thrown itself full force into the “corporate loophole” demagoguery campaign. According to the NEA, children are being victimized by avaricious corporate types who don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The NEA exhorts the American people...
With teacher union enabling, child abuse goes on unabated. A male business owner joking about life for homosexuals in prison, forced a junior accountant to bend over a desk, lined up behind him to simulate a sex act, then quipped, “I’ll show you what’s gay.” An insurance company middle manager who had been warned about...
California’s public schools continue to lay-off teachers, and the process by which they do this is as convoluted and illogical as one would expect in a bureaucratic system in which the needs of the students falls fairly low on the list of priorities. That’s my take-away from a new report by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s...
The release of teachers’ VA rankings should not be viewed as an attack on teachers, but as a wake-up call for the rest of us. The recent release of teachers’ value added (VA) rankings by the New York Times reignited a controversy which began when the Los Angeles Times did the same thing in 2010....
The American Federation of Teachers President’s half truths and hypocrisy can’t hide an obvious agenda. In a slam against those of us who believe that part of a teacher’s evaluation should be based on how well their students perform on standardized tests, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten wrote an article for the Huffington...
Julius Caesar came to a bad end on March 15th, the same date many good teachers were warned that they may be unemployed in June. “Nearly 20,000 Teacher Pink Slips Statewide Show Drastic Need for More Education Funding” screamed the headline on the California Teachers Association website. First, let’s straighten out the union spin. Typically...