DISQUS

ETBlogs Soapbox: War on charters = war on ‘the children’

  • Scott · 1 year ago
    Just another in a long line of anti-union pieces by Tayor Armerding. Police, Teachers, Firefighters, Drug Testing, Pensions, Health Insurance, and now Charter Schools. Did I miss anything?
  • frank · 1 year ago
    Get past the anti-union issue, and is he right or wrong. I live in Lawrence and my daughter will never got to a public school. Fortunately i can afford to send her to a private school, but what about all the other parents that don't have that option. Question Scott do you have kids in the school system? If you don't you really shouldn't comment.
  • bilge rat · 1 year ago
    We are lucky enough to be able to send our daughter to private school, also.

    I have had experience with two unions in the past. I was a steward for CWA and later a member of the Teamsters. I was involved in three strikes. In most cases, unions have outlived their usefulness. They promote mediocrity and discourage hard work and ideas. Unions prevent businesses from becoming competetive in the global marketplace with unrealistic benefit and salary demands. Why is it that there are so many businesses and their employees that flourish without the "help" of a union?

    If you need proof of union cluelessness, just look at the american auto industry. The american auto industry has been strangled by exorbitant and unreasonable union demands.
    Hence the demise of great american institutions such as GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

    Back to the subject...
    I feel that teachers in private schools have more accountability than their public counterparts. If they're not doing their job then it's the unemployment line. Parents have a lot more control over education in a private school than in a public setting, at least from my experience. Some of our friends have children in charter schools and feel the same way that we feel about private school accountability.
  • jacrlsn · 1 year ago
    Scott,Is there anything you can offer in defence of unions? The Boston Firefighters Union is making a mockery of right and wrong. If unions don't change their intransigence to anything that hints they're wrong, the very people they need to reach will turn them off. You need to stop acting like an ostrich and take your head out of the sand.