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Letter from the Editorial Board: An Unhappy Union?

Letter from the Editorial Board: An Unhappy Union? Letter from the Editorial Board An Unhappy Union? Jamie Lathan With recent film documentaries like Waiting for “Superman” and The Lottery receiving a lot of public attention, the American media has been increasingly critical of teacher unions, portraying messages that criticize the union’s role in slowing democracy or school reform. In both films, teacher unions are portrayed as defending a status quo that sacrifices critical engagement and high performing outcomes of teachers and students for the selfish protection of teachers’ eco- nomic interests. With these films being shown against a dismal economic backdrop of massive state budget cuts, education, and specifically teachers, are vulnerable targets of those cuts. As a response to the proposed cuts and potential layoffs, teachers in unions from Wisconsin to California have mobilized and protested for their right to participate in workplace and profes- sional decisions regarding their financial security, accountability, and standardized testing. In the midst of these protests, the public perception seems to be that teacher unions ignore the needs of children and stifle the democratic processes needed to improve pubic schools. Is this a fair perception? Are teacher unions inherently an adversary to democracy and school reform? Teacher unions have a mixed http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The High School Journal University of North Carolina Press

Letter from the Editorial Board: An Unhappy Union?

Lathan, Jamie.
The High School Journal , Volume 94 (4) – Jul 16, 2011
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 The University of North Carolina Press.
ISSN
1534-5157

Abstract

Letter from the Editorial Board An Unhappy Union? Jamie Lathan With recent film documentaries like Waiting for “Superman” and The Lottery receiving a lot of public attention, the American media has been increasingly critical of teacher unions, portraying messages that criticize the union’s role in slowing democracy or school reform. In both films, teacher unions are portrayed as defending a status quo that sacrifices critical engagement and high performing outcomes of teachers and students for the selfish protection of teachers’ eco- nomic interests. With these films being shown against a dismal economic backdrop of massive state budget cuts, education, and specifically teachers, are vulnerable targets of those cuts. As a response to the proposed cuts and potential layoffs, teachers in unions from Wisconsin to California have mobilized and protested for their right to participate in workplace and profes- sional decisions regarding their financial security, accountability, and standardized testing. In the midst of these protests, the public perception seems to be that teacher unions ignore the needs of children and stifle the democratic processes needed to improve pubic schools. Is this a fair perception? Are teacher unions inherently an adversary to democracy and school reform? Teacher unions have a mixed

Journal

The High School Journal – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Jul 16, 2011

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