May 3, 2006

Those Uppity Teachers And Their Unions

Filed under: Labor by Leo Casey @ 11:01 pm

It appears that we struck quite a raw nerve with our comments that meaningful discussions of the future of teacher unionism should actually include an active teacher unionist or two, if one judges by the extraordinary reaction they elicited from Eduwonk.

We understand that hyperbole is the trope of preference in the blogosphere, but we are still at a loss as to how we should respond to the accusation that we are “calling Jupp a traitor,” all because we said that he [and Roger Erskine] “could very well have interesting and important things, teacher positive things, to say about the future of teacher unions,” but that “neither are active teacher unionists, democratically elected by teachers to represent their interests and their concerns. They are not substitutes for a teacher unionist in a discussion of the future of teacher unionism.”

It gets better. Having browsed through our complementary comments on what Jupp would contribute to a discussion of teacher unionism, the reader might be surprised to learn that, according to Eduwonk, the real reason why we think that a teacher union perspective should be articulated by an active teacher unionist is that we disapprove of Jupp’s views. We know we were a little taken back. Maybe he has some insight into Jupp which completely escaped us. Maybe we are looking at the sort of argument, if we can call it that, where complimentary comments are read as evidence that we are hiding our true, negative sentiments. When the leap of logic between the actual words and their imputed meaning is broad enough to bridge the Grand Canyon, one is inevitably left wondering.

Or perhaps the blogger doth protest too much. Perhaps we just struck too close to home with our suggestion that all those edu-friends and edu-funders among the venture capitalists and venture philanthropists insist upon looking at teachers as the objects, and not the subjects, of educational policy.

Those damn uppity teachers: they don’t know their place. But at least now we know that’s why teacher unions are in “so much trouble.”

2 Comments

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  • Why teacher union democracy and process matters…

    The ed-blogule spat over who represents teachers is expanding, from Leo Casey’s original criticism of a NewSchools Venture Fund meeting (held without an actively-serving union officer) to Andrew Rotherham’s carping, with rebuttals on each side in the…

    Trackback by Sherman Dorn — May 4, 2006 @ 7:07 am

  • Noblesse Oblige…

    So, I can’t resist weighing in on the latest Edwize-Eduwonk smackdown. The Education Wonks may have to help us sort this one out.It’s not often that you see the phrase noblesse oblige in the edu-blogoshpere. How cool is that? Gotta……

    Trackback by NCLB: Let's Get it Right! — May 4, 2006 @ 10:40 am

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