Obama to the Right of Bush?

Exactly.

Count me in as one of those. I am a retired teacher but I see this whole charter school movement as a way to privatize and profitize education.

I don't speak to quite a few Dems in my area since they started attacking the teachers' union a few years ago, trying to blame the problems of education on unions.

Then, Obama named Arne Duncan as the Secretary of Education and I found out that he was in favor of charter schools!? 

That was perhaps my first indication that Obama was going to move to the right. Then there was health care. Scoot scoot.

THEN Elena Kagan. That showed me without a doubt that Obama was in collusion with the bankers. People kept telling me but I wanted SO much to believe. Oh I forgot — there was also the promise to leave Iraq and close Guantanamo.

Then BP and now, could it get any worse?  The flotilla.

So, bringing me back to my anger about the way it's going to go for education with someone who might even be TO THE RIGHT OF BUSH???? — I come across your article...

One summer I went to grad school in Mexico at "La Teca," the MIT of Mexico (ITESM). I had excellent teachers in linguistics and Spanish. One of my teachers talked about how words lose their meaning by overuse. She used the word "revolution" as an example. Because it got to be used over and over again it no longer meant anything. And PRI is the "Revolutionary party" What a joke it was the only party in Mexico until Vicente Fox took over with PAN, the righter wing party.

I digress — now the word "REFORM" is losing its meaning. We heard about health care reform, immigration reform and education reform. REFORM now means: taken over.

I heard someone blabbering on the other night, it was on TV or the radio, I don't remember where — perhaps CNN — I flip around a lot — they guy was saying "What other job GUARANTEES that you keep your job year after year?" 

To me destroying seniority or at least tenure (in the wimpy school district where I taught for 20 years seniority was not honored) . . . will basically destroy education in this country. But then — hat's the goal. Dumber and dumber and dumber....

I won't keep going on and on but you sure struck a cord . . .

Liz P.  
Elgin, Illinois

I taught 28.8 years in middle school, high school and community college  French I-IV, Spanish I-IV and French and Spanish 101-103.

Public Education and Democracy

Mr. Cooke:

I enjoyed your post to CounterPunch regarding the growing rift between teachers and democrats and was reminded about a conversation I had with a campaign manager for a "democratic" candidate for the Washington legislature. When I suggested to the campaign manager that her candidate was woefully lacking in his knowledge of "free trade" and what is was doing to working people she replied, "where else are you going to go?"

That pretty much sums it up for workers when it comes to democrats. But back to public education.

I try and follow the "debate" on public education as closely as I can since I have two relatives and several friends who are public school teachers. One relative has worked all year with no prep periods and he's just about done in. Although he did get a raise in pay for taking on the additional classes it has taken a toll on his energy and perhaps his health.

My interest in public education goes beyond the friends/relatives connection though.

I have always felt that any society that puts itself forth as a democracy must have a fully funded public education system as a cornerstone for a democratic foundation. But I think that it represents more than that.

Consider the idea that public education is one of the last remaining working class institutions built by and for working people. Churches, temples and mosques are examples of working class institutions as are Labor Unions. Many churches no longer address the needs of working class people and our Labor Unions have been under relentless attack for 30 years and are close to being eliminated leaving public education the last of the great working class institutions to be deconstructed.

In Solidarity,

Tom L.
Fall City, Washington

Corruption

Mr. Cooke:

I just want to say that I'm a big supporter of teachers, being one myself, public schools and unions. The attack by the Obama administration on public schools and teachers is just another example of the corruption of the American political establishment.

Parker M.
California

The Myth of the Charter School

Dear Mr. Cooke,

I just wanted to thank you for your Counterpunch article entitled "Dismantling Public Education: The Widening Rift Between Teachers and Democrats." I am a public school teacher in Pennsylvania and building representative for our local union. I get so frustrated because sometimes it seems like one of the main goals of our union is raising money for Democratic candidates. I have tried to point out to members how these candidates (Obama included) don't necessarily have our best interests in mind and I am met with blank stares and the whole "well, it's better than what the Republicans would do..." argument.

I teach in a pretty wealthy suburb, and I just don't think members feel that charter schools are much of a threat to them personally. But literally — just across the street in Philadelphia — "underperforming" schools are being replaced by charter schools and in order to keep their jobs, teachers are being forced to give up their union membership. Of course, there is no research that supports that charter schools are doing a better job of educating children. Currently in Philadelphia, at least 13 of them are under investigation due to financial mismanagement, excessive salaries and nepotism.

It's alarming to me that there's no sense of solidarity among teachers and unions under attack across the country. Why aren't more people outraged over this? Yours is one of the few articles I've read on this topic--please write more!

Thanks again,

Kathleen B.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Corporate Media Attck on Teachers

Dear Shamus:

As a retired labor reporter and editor for the ILWU I applaud your story "The widening rift between teachers and democrats."

There seems to be a large-scale attack in the corporate media on teacher rights. Below are two unpublished letters I've sent to The New York Times and the East Bay Express responding to their attacks on teachers. I strongly urge anyone who sees through this scam to deluge corporate media sources with similar or better letters.

Tom P.
California

To the Editor:

Tuesday's story "New N.Y. Schools Face Extra Pain from Layoffs" could have been written by the school board's PR department, as management had all the quotes until the very end. The story's thesis is that teacher tenure and seniority rules harm supposedly innovative schools because their teachers have less seniority. Behind this is the assumption that newer teachers, by virtue of their youth and inexperience, are better than the older teachers who have earned tenure. On this fallacy the New York Times adds to the growing chorus attacking the hard-won rights of teachers.

The article tells us teachers in the innovative schools work "as many as 60 hours a week" and "[p]rincipals had the freedom to hire whomever they chose, and many of the new schools were built around young staff members who were committed to their new principals, if not beholden to them." However, without seniority these principals could fire them as well.  

But even the most callow teacher will, if successful, become experienced, and still have no job security. The same people who took away her/his tenure and seniority could also gut pension and health care. The sixty-hour work week is a sure prescription for burn out, and without job security, the now-older teacher would be as vulnerable for layoff as any other temp. It is absurd to think that schools are improved by de-professionalizing teachers. The best and brightest will see right through this and move on to other professions.

Tom P.

To the Editor [of the East Bay Express]:

The 'Seven Days' story 'Judge Rules for Students Over Teachers' contradicts itself in it very headline. If the judge's ruling eliminating seniority rights is applied state-wide, tenure could indeed be eliminated. This benefits students? Let's see. Some teachers are 'burned out,' as the article says, and they MIGHT be the ones laid off. Or not. Layoffs are a blunt instrument. Less senior teachers are some how better teachers? One hopes they'd be smart enough to see through this. Young teachers become older teachers, and without tenure, they would be subject to arbitrary layoffs. And the same people who took their tenure could also take their health care and retirement, presumably with the approval of Mr. Gammon? If the young teachers are as good as the Express seems to think, they'll be aware of this and perhaps decide to find other careers. And this is a victory of students over teachers?

Tom P.
Berkeley, California