Shorter, shorter Frank Blethen: Fuck the teachers union.
Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?
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Blethen wrote a hard hitting piece.
Three recent examples:
1) The WEA is suing to overturn the voter-approved charter-schools initiative, just as the first charter schools prepare to open.
2) Earlier this year, WEA officials goaded lawmakers into a decision that caused Washington to become the first state in the nation to lose its waiver under the No Child Left Behind law and to cause school districts to lose control over $41 million to help children most in need.
3) The final example is the WEA’s misguided Initiative 1351, which is on this fall’s ballot.
Perfect examples of how teacher UNIONS are not helping children, especially inner city children! It’s union perpetuation! Following in the footsteps of AFT and NEA!
The Frank Blethen graphic is the first thing to load when I come to this page, so for a brief, yet awful hellish moment, it’s the only thing I see. Urg.
Let me respond to two obsessions the prophet Goldy has:
1. The Seattle times
David seems unable to get it through his head that this is a dying newspaper. Why doesn’t he pay more attention to more influential papers and media? The only justifiable reason I can imagine is that the Blethens are an easy target.
2. The Unions.
David has a blind loyalty to the unions. He seems to think that any issue supported by the unions is a good one. I imagine, for example, that he would’ve supported the caterpillar strike which, if it were successful, would likely have meant that all of caterpillar’s jobs would’ve gone to China. I wonder if David would also support union work rules, rules that often prohibit entry of younger people into the trades?
Seattle’s teachers unions are an all too sad example of what happens when teachers unions do, as they should do, put the interests of their members above the interests of their profession. Sadly, the current generation of public school teachers are the graduates of the bottom rung of our system of higher education… what used to be called teachers colleges and now are often called education majors. This situation is a result of underfunding of the profession, however it also causes a conflict of interest where the union MUST defend its members against changes that might threaten their jobs. This is why unions oppose merit systems and oppose efforts to bring content professionals … for example former military eager young graduates in the humanities … Into the school system.
The sad result in Seattle is pretty much as Puddy stated. Let me add to that. Seattle is the only major city in the United States that does not have a single central high school dedicated to the most academically ambitious students. Whether you call such a school Bronx Science, Boston Latin School, Nova, there is one obvious fact … Urban elite schools work. After admission to elite colleges, kids from these schools outcompete kids from even the best private schools. Indeed schools like Lakeside seek out such kids, especially from the underrepresented minority communities, not just to look but because such kids do extremely well. The unions tell such kids Seattle doesn’t want them.
My wife and I had a wonderful evening last week with a prominent member of the African-American community. This long-term activist seem surprised when I criticize the public schools for not serving the needs of the best and brightest of Seattle’s Black students, his comment was that such kids had no problem going to Lakeside.
Our friends comment was not new. The children of Seattle’s African-American leaders have long attended Lakeside, Bush, and other excellent private schools built for and by Seattle’s wealthy. The result of course is to remove a political force that might have long ago forced the Seattle Public schools to offer the kind of excellence every other major city provides two outstanding kids.
I would also think that David, as a opponent of rule by the 1%, would oppose our current system where Seattle’s best kids are dependent on the largesse of the uber wealthy. Without meaning to hurt David, I would also point out that his own daughter will soon graduate from the very elite school system on Mercer Island. David does not deserve to be criticized for this, anymore than Michelle and Barack Obama should be criticized for deciding not to send their children to the DC public schools.
Finally, David seems unable to understand that the reason we need charter schools is not to bust unions. The rules created by Sec. Duncan, require states to work with the unions to find formulae that support the teachers while giving parents and teachers the freedom of innovation represented by charter schools.
The assertion that unions, insofar as they represent the interest of their members to have control over the workplace, are antithetical to the common good is simply bullshit. And calling teachers “dumb” is fucking outrageous. Was Steve Jobs smarter than your average plumber? If you think the answer is “yes”, you are a fucking asshole.
As far as what “puddy stated” it was a fucking cut and paste from that fascist fuck Blethen’s editorial without attribution.
This is known in polite circles as plagiarism.
Hey Proud dumbASS,
Goldy supplied the link DUMBAAASSSSSS! Seems you don’t read what Goldy supplies! Why is that dumbASS?
You’re one dumb DUMMOCRETIN! Butt everyone knows that’s nothing new about you! You weren’t missed while you were drinking from your Golden jackASS toys!