Chicago Teachers Union

School choice breeds innovation, success

12/31/2012
Organizations such as School of One – which operates a math program at three New York City public middle schools – are proving that innovation can occur in a public education system that is resistant to change.

CTU’s answer for failing schools: Blame the ‘fat cats’

By Paul Kersey
12/29/2012
It is a fairly standard piece of Alinskyite strategy: make the argument about personalities rather than principles or results. Find an enemy and make the whole fight about him or her or it. As progressive icon and “Rules for Radicals” author Saul Alinsky himself put it, “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize...

Bringing it all together: what Right to Work means for Michigan and its workers

By Paul Kersey
12/13/2012
On Tuesday Michigan’s Legislature took the final steps in passing Right-to-Work legislation, and Gov. Rick Snyder signed the bill into law. Outside the Statehouse, union protesters became more agitated, tearing down a tent where Right-to-Work supporters had gathered (a handful of people were almost trapped inside the canvas) and assaulting a Fox News correspondent. In...

Sweden shows that school choice works

12/12/2012
If you’ve ever heard Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis give a speech, you know she has a thing for Finland. She points to it as a shining example of how an education system should work. She extols its collaborative teaching environments, its tenure system and its short, four-hour workday. Now, school choice supporters have...

Right to Work: How did Michigan get to this point?

By Paul Kersey
12/11/2012
Right to Work has become a reality. The two-bill package passed both houses of the state legislature, and was signed into law by Gov. Snyder. Unions are continued to cry foul and staged wild protests outside the Michigan Statehouse – at one point they tore down a tent belonging to Americans for Prosperity. In yesterday’s post we discussed what...

The semi-legal Carpentersville strike

By Paul Kersey
12/05/2012
At the end of today’s blog post you should be thinking a bit more like a lawyer, though you might prefer the skull full of mush you had beforehand. Teachers in Carpentersville-based District 300 went on strike for one day this week. Among the issues that remained at the time of the strike was class sizes. The...