Why are some liberals now beginning to bad mouth Unions and promote charter schools?

[Quixote1818]

After the movie 'Waiting for Superman' movie came out (put together by liberals) I was stunned to see Colbert let Guggenheim skate. The movie also had Jonathan Alter in it.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/10/AR2010101003553.html


And according to this article: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/?page=2

Snip > For years, right-wing critics demanded vouchers and got nowhere. Now, many of them are watching in amazement as their ineffectual attacks on “government schools” and their advocacy of privately managed schools with public funding have become the received wisdom among liberal elites. Despite their uneven record, charter schools have the enthusiastic endorsement of the Obama administration, the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Dell Foundation. In recent months, The New York Times has published three stories about how charter schools have become the favorite cause of hedge fund executives. According to the Times, when Andrew Cuomo wanted to tap into Wall Street money for his gubernatorial campaign, he had to meet with the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), a pro-charter group.

What is going on here?

[Starry Messenger]

1. Because some liberals decided that they liked the profits that Republicans

were reaping during the Bush years and decided to go them one better and with more "panache". They ginned up a "populist" astroturf issue stocked with phonies, and have been pouring money like a flood onto anti-education "Democrats". They are trying to create an "Education Industry" to sell to share-holders.

[Quixote1818]

2. I agree. nt

[Starry Messenger]

6. Thank you for bringing up the question.

It's been pissing me off for two years. I'm hoping this groundswell of union support for WI & OH, etc. stems the tide of hostility to me and my union comrades here and outside DU. I'm sick of reading their attacks on teachers.

[myrna minx]

5. Perfect answer. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

9. Thank myrna minx

It was a cry from the heart, I'll tell you.

[Chimichurri]

30. That's it exactly. Nothing more needs to be said.

[xchrom]

3. because they are neo-liberals not liberals. nt

[Recursion]

4. Frustration with the difficulty of getting anything done in some districts

Though some (like me) wish that the issues of charter schools and unionization weren't so closely linked by both sides; there are unionized charters and charters even run by unions. I'm interested in charters as a way of getting around district management, not so much teachers' unions. And the KIPP/franchise model needs to die a horrible death.

[coalition_unwilling]

7. Anyone who bad-mouths unions is no liberal. They're actually

pretty much well down the road to fascist, imho.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. If they are bad mouthing Unions

They are not liberals. Sorry Conservatives, but that is the way it is.

[Jim__]

10. Movies like "Waiting for Superman" are extremely effective propaganda.

Corporations have tremendous propaganda opportunities today; and there is little on the left that can counter it - the left cannot compete with corporate money.

[Quixote1818]

11. Michael Moore should counter Waiting for Superman. He is about the only one who could. nt

[lib_wit_it]

21. Yes, let's ask him! With so much failure in the schools, the situation makes people eager to jump on

a bandwagon. And the conservatives have a big, effective propaganda and PR machine that has bamboozled many.

[Quixote1818]

29. And when you look at successful schools in Finland, Japan etc.

They are all state run and have extremely powerful unions. What they do is put a lot of teachers in the classroom and teachers are highly respected, even more than doctors. Michael could have a field day with this subject.

[lib_wit_it]

44. I am an ex-public school teacher who burned out after 20 years of service due to the intense stress

of the kind of conditions that are the result of the general lack of respect our community had for teachers. An attitude encouraged by those engineering the rightward slide of our nation and their rampant anti-intellectualism. Very discouraging.

[Citizen Worker]

12. It's about money. Public education expenditures are the largest budget line item as investment

banks have noted and they want the money. It really is that simple and I have the strategy paper drafted by one of the investment houses in the 90s to prove it.

[Quixote1818]

15. This country is screwed! It's all down hill from here.

As George Carlin put it "....they want more for themselves and they will get it! All of it, because they own this fucking place!"

[Starry Messenger]

43. +++

Diverting government revenue streams is the Next Big Thing.

[muntrv]

13. Too many "liberals" refuse to dance with the one that brought them.

[QC]

14. Simple. They're not liberals. n/t

[TBF]

16. When you have a so-called "liberal" president leading the charge what can you do?

I think if we properly label the president as "neo-lib" or "conservative" as his policies indicate, it all becomes much clearer.

[blindpig]

17. Liberals are not the left.

Liberalism is one of the two ruling class political philosophies, the other being Conservatism. Both place ruling class interests above those of workers though their tactics are different.

The New Deal, socialist ideas applied by liberals solely to preserve the ruling class despite themselves, is history, they see that expedient as unnecessary.

They'll be sorry.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. +1

[LynneSin]

18. Not all Charter schools are evil

I know that here in Wilmington we have 2 amazing Charter schools with Wilmington Charter and Cab Calloway Charter. Wilmington's Red Clay School district has an amazing setup where kids can have some choice with what school they will attend. WC pushes academics with plenty of AP classes and geared towards kids who have excellent grades. Cab Calloway, who lived his latter years in Wilmington, is a school geared towards those kids that are musically inclined. But even outside of those 2 charters the kids can choose from several HS that have specializations whether academics or Vo-Tech training.

I've learned alot about these because my friend's daughter is testing for which high school she will attend. She's made the waitlist for Wilm Charter (everyone is wait listed and then picked by lottery provided that you do well on the placement test) and has auditioned for Cab Calloway (same deal), but she really wants to go to AI Dupont HS because their band travels EVERYWHERE - Rose Bowl Parades, Inaugurations, St Patty's Day Parades in Ireland.

I do like the idea of utilizing Charter schools for those students who excel in certain areas however I am troubled by the abuse in Charter systems. Trust me, we've had some really bad ones that basically take state money and have little in results. If Charters are to be a part of the public school system then they need to clean up the system that weeds out the bad schools.

[KittyWampus]

19. Now you've done it. Get ready to be called poopie-head. Ideally, I don't like charters

since they do take funds from public schools. However, not all charter schools are corporate boondoggles. So are started locally by and for families.

[callous taoboy]

25. Hmmmmm.... started locally by families: Like "The Family?"

[blondeatlast]

Godd gosh--did someone call you "poopie-head"? Please link;

I'll be happy to offer them a piece of my mind.

[bvar22]

20. I'm not anti-Charter Schools.

I AM against using Public Money to fund private institutions that are not completely open to public oversight and accountability to the public.

The same goes for:

*Armed military "contractors"

*Private Police Forces

*Private Prisons

*Private "Intelligence" gathering agencies

*Faith Based anything

*For Profit Health Insurance Corporations

You get the picture.

No matter HOW you spin it, Charter Schools are NOT Public Schools.

[PassingFair]

22. !

:applause:

[callous taoboy]

24. +1

[LynneSin]

26. That I can support 110%

I know without a doubt that Wilmington Charter and Cab Calloway are some of the best Charters in this country and they work in conjunction with the Red Clay School District. I like the fact that there is a choice for exceptional children that does not cost a penny to the family. I do realize that for every Wilmington Charter or Cab Calloway that we can probably find a dozen charters that are an embarassment.

Charter schools on principle is not the problem - poor regulation of these schools are.

[bvar22]

28. Fine.

I have no doubts that private/charter schools can be wonderful.
Find ways to fund them without using Public Money.

"Vouchers" is just another scam to transfer Public Money to private pockets,
defund the Public Education system,
break the Teacher's Union,
and reinforce a stratified Class/Race divide in America.

The solution is to FIX the Public Education System,
not destroy it.

One way to quickly FIX the Public Education System
would be to require everyone who draws a Paycheck from Uncle Sam (every elected politician)
to send their children to the nearest Public School in their district.
THEN, you would see some "change".

[LynneSin]

36. But these schools I speak of aren't a voucher system

These schools are a part of the Red Clay school system (that covers greater Wilmington) and used to provide opportunity for students who excel in certain areas. A child living in a poor neighborhood in Wilmington couldn't afford a school like Wilmington Friends or Tower Academy but instead they have a school like Wilmington Charter which is actually better rated than those 2 schools. And I think it's great that here in Wilmington we have a school for exceptional musicians too.

[bvar22]

42. As long as Public Money (Tax Money) isn't used to fund them....

no problem.

The USA has always had private schools for gifted children,
and privately funded scholarships and charities for these private schools.
Calling it a "charter" school doesn't change things.
No Public Money for Private schools.

[leftstreet]

27. +1

[noamnety]

31. All your examples lead back to private corporations.

People forget that some charters are corporate owned or corporate managed, and others aren't. Our local one is chartered and managed by the county public school system. The building and all equipment is owned by the county school system, the auditors are the same folks who audit all the public schools in the county, and the financial records are by law all put online under public disclosure laws - the same disclosure laws apply to all the public schools from the neighborhood ones to the charters in this state, and it's so standardized that you can check any public school website in the state and it will have an identical icon on the home page (above the fold, so to speak) on the home page, with all the finance records listed in a particular order to make it easy to compare across districts. There's no corporation, no CEO, no management company, so a comparison to private military contractors or any other for profit (hidden or openly for profit) entity isn't relevant.

[blondeatlast]

33. There you have it; is it that hard for the pro-charter folks to get that? nt

[Warren Stupidity]

38. what bvar22 said, exactly.

[bigwillq]

41. Good post.

:thumbsup:

[rucky]

35. I'm fine with community-based charter schools.

The corporate ones will eat us alive, though.

[LynneSin]

39. exactly - the 2 I mention are part of the Red Clay School system

And there is some corporate money in the system from DuPont but it benefits more than just the charter schools. I mean one of the 3 main high schools is named after the DuPonts.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Reader Rabbit]

37. Grovelbot, I've missed you so!!!!

:loveya:

[rucky]

34. Because the lies are in the mainstream & people are beginning to believe them. n/t

[Smarmie Doofus]

40. There's a class divide in the party that we don't talk about.

Yuppie, upper income, ivy league types don't identify with unions or working people , except in the abstract. Viscerally their repelled.

Obama, Davis Guggenheim, Alter, Duncan ..... folks like this are of this type. Upper middle class, private prep schools all the way, etc... and they are economically and generally culturally at odds w. the labor/regular people wing of the party.

Increasingly there are two irreconcilable wings and eventually there will be an actual break. Hopefully with the prep-school contingent striking out on their own.


They'll be economic royalists ... corporatists really..... with 21st century cultural politics. ( The cultural stuff keeps them from going all the way over to GOP.)

[maryf]

45. Love me I'm a liberal

Love Me, I'm a Liberal
By Phil Ochs

E A E A
I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
E C#m
Tears ran down my spine
E A E
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
F#7 B7
As though I'd lost a father of mine
E A E
But Malcolm X got what was coming
G#m A
He got what he asked for this time
E C#m A B7 E
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
Of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
As long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crane?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New Republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democtratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Here's a newer version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGDT7wKvdRk