As someone involved in the education reform movement, I hate to criticize Michelle Rhee. That said, if you want to bring about a better education system, you have to know the source of the problem. That’s the only way you can develop a solution.
Rhee’s article is an lesson in problem avoidance. It makes the point that education reform is a political battle. So far, so good. It’s high time that high profile people started talking like this, though I suspect much of that can be attributed to Chris Christie’s surviving the campaign of lies put out by the teachers unions and bloated bureaucracy.
Where the article fails is her failure to take on the 800 lb. gorilla in the education debate. After being successfully targeted for destruction by these engines of greed and mediocrity, Rhee turns tail and opines the this is what unions are supposed to do. This is a travesty.
What I’ve Learned
We can’t keep politics out of school reform. Why I’m launching a national movement to transform education.
The teachers’ unions get the blame for much of this. Elected officials, parents, and administrators implore them to “embrace change” and “accept reform.” But I don’t think the unions can or should change. The purpose of the teachers’ union is to protect the privileges, priorities, and pay of their members. And they’re doing a great job of that.
What next, Michelle? “Kim Jong Il’s role is to turn millions of North Koreans into brainwashed, undernourished midgets building bombs to terrorize neighboring nations, and he’s doing a great job of doing that.”