Why is Change.Org Supporting Anti-Union Groups like "Stand for Children?

[jtown1123]

Apparently Change.org, normally a good group for Dems and progressives, is going the wrong way when it comes to education.

Snippet from the AFL-CIO blog:

In the past few days, the online activist organization Change.org started running a petition by Stand for Children, a billionaire-funded “education reform” group founded by Jonah Edelman, that Chicago teachers say directly interferes with the collective bargaining process between the Chicago Teachers Union/AFT and the School Board. AFT has come out in strong support of the Chicago teachers.

This isn’t the first time Change.org has gone the wrong way on education: For months, the organization has run petitions for StudentsFirst, a group founded by Michelle Rhee. Rhee’s time as the chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools was rife with anti-teacher policies, including illegally firing teachers. With the Stand for Children petition, it appears that Change.org is escalating its support for anti-teacher policies despite its stated progressive agenda.

I love change.org. I’ve watched the organization grow from a scrappy start-up to an online powerhouse, hell-bent on making the world a better place. The organization has scored innumerable victories, many of them alongside people fighting for justice in the workplace, and the energy and creativity its staff bring to their work is inspiring. I’m friends with many of them, and I can say without a doubt that they are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.

That’s why the situation right now is heartbreaking to me.

Let’s be clear. It’s unacceptable that Change.org supports an organization attacking a union in the middle of workers' negotiations with their employer, period. But Stand for Children, StudentsFirst and the gaggle of groups promoting similar agendas have crafted their messaging in such a way that many progressive activists are fooled. These groups seek to portray the impression that they are romantic heroes out to save students from the crumbling education system. Their foes? The greedy, incompetent teachers who are fighting back against anything that could save the educational system. So maybe Change.org was just fooled into thinking this was happening here.

THE REST: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Tell-Change.org-to-Stop-Supporting-Union-Busters-Like-Stand-for-Children

[TheWraith]

1. Here's the problem I have with this sort of thing.

The rhetoric employed in defense of the status quo seems to boil down to two basic assertions.

1. There's no such thing as bad teachers, ever, and,

2. Any kind of attempts to change or experiment with improving public education is evil.

Now I don't really have a dog in this fight, nor do I care to. But when you use that kind of absolutist, apocalyptic language, it makes me and certainly a lot of other people automatically distrust your position. Particularly when it's rather clear that no, public education is not perfect, and could certainly take better advantage of modern tools and maybe even a little scientific experimentation to determine what works best.

[jtown1123]

2. I would strongly urge you read the actual blog post

If you read it, you would understand a lot of the provisions in these contracts people love to demonize are actually measures that improve education such as funding for school libraries and music and art programs.

From the article:

So let’s look at what’s at stake in this battle. According to Chicago teacher Jennifer Johnson:

At stake in this negotiation is how much funding the Chicago Public School District will provide for basic art and music instruction, school nurses, counselors, playgrounds and libraries.

Ninety-eight of our Chicago schools don't have playgrounds, and 160 schools don't have libraries at all. Forty percent of our schools do not have full-time art and music programs. These are some of the important issues that teachers would like to discuss at the bargaining table, not just to improve working conditions for teachers but to ensure that our students receive the education they deserve.

These are the words of a nine-year veteran of the Chicago Public Schools. I think it’s pretty clear who is actually standing for children and putting students first right now: the teachers.

[kenfrequed]

3. There are problems with your problems

The first and most crucial is that we have cut education to the friggin bone and for some reason it doesn't improve outcomes. Teachers have taken pay freezes and cuts. Staffing has been gutted. Benefits have been whittled away. And somehow magically we believe that education would be better if we borrowed ideas from private organizations.

Unions are not up in arms because of "any changes" they are upset because of specific changes.

I would recommend you look at Finland's school system where teachers are treated well and the kind of assault on teachers as being 'bad' or 'incompetent' with a constant quest for 'accountability' doesn't exist.

Many of the spate of recent papers and propaganda puff pieces have been partially funded by private organizations like Edisonlearning or by those with an ideological axe to grind against unions. These people are more concerned about their tax rates and salivating about the possibilities in privatizing another government service than they are with any improvement in results.

You say that you don't have a dog in this fight but I would say we all have one. We are going to depend upon the next generation to take care of us, and we can choose to either have this done by a generation educated by a competetive and evershrinking pool of people, constantly afraid for their jobs while continually doing more with less, and teaching greater numbers with fewer resources, or we can get serious about what ought to be our greatest aspiration and responsability and fund education as though we care about it.

[KamaAina]

4. It's not just change.org

The right has successfully pushed privatized education as a wedge issue with crossover appeal, much like immigration ("They're taking our jobs!&quot .

Don't believe me? Wait for the next education thread. Or if you're lucky, the many DU ed deform supporters will turn this into a flamefest!

It's all part of the ongoing war on unions. The teachers' unions are among the largest. Once the right destroys them, there will be no countervailing force to the billion$$$ of corporate cash they can pour down our gullet thanks to Citizens United.