Mother Crusader: impressive NJ parent blogger. Love when parents get upset with reforms.

[madfloridian]

It's taken a while for teachers and parents to catch on that this is the privatization of education in full action mode.

I am impressed with this parent in New Jersey and her concerns about the goals of Chris Christie and Chris Cerf. Good for her.

The reformers pushing for charter schools often quote Albert Shanker. Shanker was an educator, head of the AFT, and later union organizer. This blog is defending him, pointing out that when he saw that charters were going to be used to privatize public schools....he became an opponent.

From parent activist Mother Crusader:

Edith Shanker Puts Laura Waters, Chris Cerf, & Joel Klein In Their Place.

She points out that NJ blogger Jersey Jazzmen had this to say about Shanker.

In 1993, when Shanker saw that the charter idea was going to be used to privatize public education, he turned against charter schools. He opposed the takeover of the charter idea by corporations, entrepreneurs, and for-profit vendors. He became a vocal opponent of charter schools when he realized that his idea was embraced by “the education industry.” In his weekly column in The New York Times, Albert Shanker repeatedly denounced charter schools, vouchers, and for-profit management as “quick fixes that won’t fix anything.”

She also quotes Edith Shanker, wife of the late Al Shanker, in response to reformers saying he would have approved of their methods.

Not too long ago, she put Joel Klein in his place when he too invoked Shanker to fortify his position (funny how both Klein and Cerf have tried...) Here is what Edith Shanker had to say to Klein.

A few months ago, in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Joel Klein invoked Al Shanker’s name as an educator in support of today’s charter school “reform” efforts. Klein wanted the public to believe that Al was the originator of the charter school concept (he wasn’t) and that he would today be supportive of the charter school ”reform” ideology now being spread around New York City and the country as a panacea for low student achievement. Conveniently, Klein did not indicate that Al denounced the idea of charters when it became clear that the concept had changed and was being hijacked by corporate and business interests. In Al’s view, such hijacking would result in the privatization of public education and, ultimately, its destruction – all without improving student outcomes.

If you are on Twitter you can follow this Mother Crusader blog plus
Jersey Jazzman as well.


You can follow me also if you are so inclined.

There are many of us posting and talking about the dangers of privatizing education, and about the harm of failure to speak out about it. We find other places for now as Democratic forums do not encourage such talk in an election year.

[No Elephants]

1. Thanks for that info about Shanker, mad. I about dropped my own teeth when I learned

that the idea for charter schools had come from him and other Democrats.

Originally, I heard from one of Reagan's secretaries of education on the Morning Joe show that, just before he (the Secretary) left office, he urged Republicans to latch onto the idea of charter schools that Democrats were pushing. I was somewhat surprised that even Reagan era Democrats were the ones who first pushed charter schools, but I was not stunned.

However, I googled charter schools to test the Secretary's assertions and found the wiki for charter schools, which mentioned Shanker's role. It was then that I about lost it.

Wiki can be edited by just about anyone and someone REALLY should add this blogger's info to that wiki!

[madfloridian]

2. I know what you mean. But I think we can trust his wife.

I knew he had denounced the idea after he first thought it might be a creative way to help education. But I was glad to hear it from his wife.