"Charters do not outperform unionized schools "...Ben Jorasky, Chicago Reader.

[madfloridian]

Jorasky is good at "Confronting the anti-teachers' union myth with, you know, facts"

Today's lesson: charters do not outperform unionized schools

Look, charterheads, I get it. You hate the teachers' union, if only because it funds rival political campaigns.

But if you want to fight the union, at least use the facts. And the central fact is this: the nonunion charters are not outperforming the unionized schools. No, it's just the other way around.

I get no delight in reporting this. OK, maybe a little. But I have a soft spot in my heart for charter school teachers, especially those who work for lunatic bosses. I presume most of them are in for all the right reasons, like their desire to teach kids. But I'm also guessing that many would want to join a union or at least get the protection offered by a union-negotiated contract, just in case they accidentally look cross-eyed at their principal when he's having a bad day.

..."What the charter backers don't say is that their schools actually have a big advantage over their regular neighborhood counterparts because the charters limit enrollment to students whose parents apply. They don't have to take in every John, Paul, George, and Ringo who shows up at the front door.

I love his comparison of union teachers to the NFL replacement refs. After all political leaders were falling all over themselves to get the unionized refs back. No so with teachers. Why is that, do you know? I don't.

"If I wanted to be a jerk, I'd say that the charter school teachers are to their unionized counterparts what the NFL's replacement refs are to the real things—pawns being used in a larger game. But I don't want to say that—even if I just did.

Did you read that? pawns being used in a larger game

Maybe after the election is over, those of us who dare to speak out about the destruction of public schools by both parties....will not be shunned as we are now.

[Enthusiast]

1. I suspect there is a far greater fall off

from regular teachers to replacement teachers than from regular NFL refs to replacement refs.

As a regular NFL viewer I was appalled by the poor performance of the replacement refs. The sub-standard officiating was completely changing the game. I believe replacement teachers will similarly destroy millions of young lives the nation's future. I'm serious.

Much of our nation's edge in the 20th Century was due to our public education system-it was the envy of the world. These greedy plutocrats would dismantle the golden egg laying goose for their temporary enrichment. Did I say that I hate these fucks?

If you didn't happen to know, in American football is vital to maintain high quality officiating. It is as important a factor as the speed of a wide receiver or elusiveness of a running back, even more so.