Are Chicago Teachers Really Rooting for Student Failure?

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/12-0

You can get away with almost anything if you're attacking teachers' unions in the corporate media.

New York Times columnist Joe Nocera (9/11/12) explains that while the so-called "reform" movement hasn't come up with the right answers on schools:

'On the other hand, the status quo, which is what the Chicago teachers want, is clearly unacceptable. In Chicago, about 60 percent of public school students graduate from high school.'

A Washington Post editorial (9/11/12):

'The administration has championed reforms much like those the Chicago local is fighting. And with good reason: A scandalously low 56 percent of Chicago students graduate from high school. That is the status quo the union is fighting to preserve.'

You got that right–teachers want nothing to change in their school system. Of course, anyone who so much as glanced at the Chicago Teachers Union website could see these teachers actually want quite a bit to change: smaller classes, more support staff, closing the funding gaps between schools. To suggest that what teachers want is to maintain low graduation rates is absurd and offensive.