[Peace-discuss] Education, too

[C. G. Estabrook]

[And this isn't some accident but rather what the administration means to do. 
It's not a bug, it's a feature.  During his Wednesday appearance on "Charlie 
Rose," White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel pointed to Obama's clash with 
teachers unions as a sign that he is willing to "challenge allies when it comes 
to America's interests." (Whom does he mean by "America"?) "He's taking on 'the 
teachers' union' in his pursuit of charter schools and teacher testing and 
student testing and accountability," said Emanuel.  Sweet guy.  --CGE]


	Unions Criticize Obama's School Proposals as 'Bush III'
	By Nick Anderson
	Washington Post Staff Writer
	Friday, September 25, 2009

To the surprise of many educators who campaigned last year for change in the 
White House, the Obama administration's first recipe for school reform relies 
heavily on Bush-era ingredients and adds others that make unions gag.

Standardized testing, school accountability, performance pay, charter schools -- 
all are integral to President Obama's $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" grant 
competition to spur innovation. None is a typical Democratic crowd-pleaser.

Labor leaders, parsing the Education Department's fine print, call the proposal 
little more than a dressed-up version of the No Child Left Behind law enacted 
seven years ago under Obama's Republican predecessor.

"It looks like the only strategies they have are charter schools and 
measurement," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of 
Teachers. "That's Bush III"...

Full article at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/24/AR2009092403197.html