{"id":878,"date":"2011-08-09T12:17:38","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T19:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/878"},"modified":"2011-08-09T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T23:32:09","slug":"americas-education-politics-a-crass-and-explicit-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/878","title":{"rendered":"America&rsquo;s Education Politics: A Crass and Explicit Example"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:30px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/878\" send=\"false\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"recommend\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>As if we didn\u2019t have enough examples of the highly politicized nature of American educational reform, along comes another illustration that reaches new lows for crassness and audacity. Jonah Edelman is a leader of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stand.org\/Page.aspx?pid=1268\" target=\"_blank\">Stand for Children<\/a>, a well-known and influential educational reform movement based in Oregon. The \u201cgrassroots child advocacy organization\u201d is said to be \u201cnon-partisan\u201d, but it\u2019s clear that the organization is stridently anti-union. In fact, it appears that busting teacher unions is its central mission, something that is sure to please <a href=\"http:\/\/www.schoolsmatter.info\/2011\/07\/business-roundtables-pie-post-partisan.html\" target=\"_blank\">corporate benefactors like Bill Gates and the Walton family<\/a>. In a recent panel discussion caught on YouTube, Edelman brags about his union-busting strategy in Illinois. It\u2019s really quite breath-taking if you listen closely: he\u2019s explaining the steps for the almost complete emasculation of the teacher\u2019s union in that state. Also infuriating is the anti-union stance by Democratic politicians, and the weakness of teacher union leadership.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kog8g9sTDSo\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"350\" height=\"287\"><\/iframe><\/center>The YouTube post caused a great sensation amongst <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/answer-sheet\/post\/how-some-ed-reformers-really-work\/2011\/07\/11\/gIQACLwK9H_blog.html\" target=\"_blank\">commentators<\/a>, and even Edelman felt compelled to send an <a href=\"http:\/\/preaprez.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/10\/jonah-edelman-apologizes-to-my-blog-readers\/\" target=\"_blank\">apology<\/a> to the blogger who originally posted the video, but the damage was done &#8211; and reality was made clear(er). Thankfully, some Stand for Children <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/answer-sheet\/post\/volunteer-why-i-stopped-helping-stand-for-children\/2011\/07\/13\/gIQAQxLMDI_blog.html\" target=\"_blank\">volunteers<\/a> are taking note of the corporate agenda that now dominates the &#8220;reform&#8221; movement, though it&#8217;s unclear what positive effects will follow from their awakening.<\/p>\n<p>I find the American hysteria over teachers and their unions to be almost unintelligible. America teacher unions are some of the weakest in that country, and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.good.is\/post\/american-teachers-do-more-work-for-less-pay-than-their-international-peers\/\" target=\"_blank\"> teacher pay is relatively poor compared to the rest of the Western world<\/a>. It&#8217;s also well established that children in countries with strong teacher unions and strong pay <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/217\" target=\"_blank\">do much better on standardized international tests<\/a>. So is this about education, or is it merely the latest phase in the drive to destroy America&#8217;s unions? Do the kids really come first, or are teachers the next <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelmoore.com\/words\/mike-friends-blog\/30-years-ago-today\" target=\"_blank\">air traffic controllers<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As if we didn\u2019t have enough examples of the highly politicized nature of American educational reform, along comes another illustration that reaches new lows for crassness and audacity. Jonah Edelman is a leader of Stand for Children, a well-known and influential educational reform movement based in Oregon. The \u201cgrassroots child advocacy organization\u201d is said to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,13],"tags":[22,85],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-politics","category-education","category-in-a-philosophical-mood","tag-education-2","tag-unions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":888,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}