Mods please note: This is a leaflet from the American Federation of Teachers convention distributed freely for informational & publicity purposes.
Trojan Horse – A trick or stratagem that causes a target
to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place.
A union leadership which willingly “partners” with billionaire Bill Gates, and other proponents of the business model of education, has turned away from the battle for educational equality. This is precisely what the AFT leadership chose to do when they became the recipient of Gates’ millions for the AFT Innovation Fund. The invitation to permit Bill Gates make a personal appearance at this convention sends a signal to the membership and to the public about the AFT’s nefarious
priorities.
Bill Gates addressing a teachers union convention is akin to asking George W. Bush to speak at an anti-war rally or Klansman address a NAACP convention.
Attacks on teachers at the heart of Gates “reforms”
The elimination of union protections for teachers (seniority, tenure protection, work
rules) – along with attempts to shift salary structure to merit-pay based schemes
– are major planks of the billionaires and millionaires who are force-feeding their
business model of education “reform” (now dubbed by many progressive reformers
as “education deform”) upon this nation.
Their solutions, unproven by research, lie in the belief that what works for business (competition, assessments, results, rewards and punishments) are the key to more
effective schools.
Undue influence
Because of his astronomical wealth, Bill Gates’ inuence has a long reach. Key senior positions at the U.S. Department of Education are held by people affiliated with his Foundation. Race to the Top is reflective of policies being pushed by his Foundation, i.e. the removal and limitations of teacher rights and teacher voice from all levels of decision-making, even in the classroom.
The Gates Foundation has been “helping” states with their applications for RTTT. Financially desperate states have caved in to the pressure by altering their own laws and approaches so they get a chance to access the pot of federal money. For example, in an (unsuccessful) effort to secure funds, the Palm Beach school district declared 70% of its teachers “ineffective.”
Additionally, a wide variety of think tanks and education groups, sometimes on near-opposite ends of the spectrum, have been the beneciaries of Gates’ money and have melded into one general consensus. Editorial boards read the press releases of these organizations and parrot the consensus in the media.
Gates’ support of mayoral control
Gates and his allies want mayors to control urban school districts, a rejection of publicly-elected school boards, thus eliminating local parent and community input. In the summer of 2009, Gates gave more than $1 million dollars to a NY City based front group (Learn NY) to push for the renewal of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s control over the NYCDOE.
The AFT’s largest local (UFT, Local 2) joined Gates in supporting mayoral control. The AFT continues to ignore the abysmal record of Chicago Public Schools when led by Paul Vallas (who is now privatizing the New Orleans school system) and his successor Arne Duncan, both under Richard Daley’s mayoral control. There is inherent racism on a policy that disenfranchises people of color while suburban white people get to elect and run their own school boards.
Small schools: Gates’ first experiment went awry
Ten years ago the Gates Foundation decided that comprehensive high schools were the major cause of low graduation rates and began pushing small schools initiatives (spending $100 million in New York City alone), leading to school closures and massive dislocations of students and teachers. By early 2009, Gates admitted that “many of the small schools that we invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any signicant way.”
By then, however, communities had been disrupted and many treasured historical institutions in urban communities had been destroyed.
Teacher “effectiveness” and charters: Gates’ current experiments
Gates has targeted $335 million to define teacher effectiveness. He repeats the ed deform mantra that “teachers are the most important element in a child’s education,” a clever saying being used to blame teachers when schools don’t function effectively. The current emphasis on teacher effectiveness as tied to their students’ test scores is part of the corporatization
of American education.
The Gates Foundation is pouring enormous sums into expanding the numbers of unproven non-unionized charters where teachers are younger, less experienced, less skilled, and less career-minded. Unrestrained, the expansion of charter schools will result in the dismantling of today’s mostly-unionized public school work force.
Where has the AFT been?
So why does the AFT go along with people and organizations which have been aiming blame darts at teachers and their unions? A teacher effectiveness measurement project funded by the Gates Foundation should ring loud alarm bells, but instead, many AFT locals, led by the UFT, have been going along.
Opposing Bill Gates’ notions of school “reform” is not the equivalent of holding the current system in high esteem.
Yes, schools need to be improved, but in a way that will benefit students and teachers over the long term, and without destroying public education.
THE TEACHERS UNIONS ARE THE ONLY FORCE CAPABLE OF ORGANIZING A NATIONAL RESISTANCE TO THE ATTACKS ON TEACHERS AND THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
For more information, go to
http://www.aftpeaceandjusticecaucus.org/
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