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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The more charter schools there are, the fewer union members there are, the less clout the union has. [/quote]

[b]WTU needs to organize charter school teachers[/b].  It can be done.  Why do you think there such incredible teacher turn-over at the charters?  Terrible working conditions.  no liability insurance.  I know first-hand.[/quote]

Wrong!  Don't fix what isn't broken!  I can think of several charter schools that have excellent retention - teachers love working there.  Charter autonomy is one of the reasons that charters are better than DCPS.[/quote]

First of all, in the aggregate charters only do marginally better than DCPS schools. 
Secondly, you have no means for proving any causal relationship between non-union schools and academic achievement.  
Finally, some factoids:

[b]*Some of the highest-performing countries in the world have teachers’ unions (Finland, for example).[/b]

*The southern states of the U.S. have traditionally had terribly poor student performance, and have weak or nonexistent teachers’ unions.

*Massachusetts, the highest performing state in the nation, has a long history of strong unions.[/quote]

Sure, but in those countries teaching is a profession that the strongest students are steered [i]into[/i] not [i]away from[/i].  The same can't be said here.

I actually have very mixed feelings about the teacher's unions.  I think the ones in poor urban schools (which describes a lot of DC) need extra protection for their jobs and their personal safety.  Otoh, I'm not convinced there's a causal relationship between powerful unions and well-educated students.  What's the famous quote from Al Shanker (former teacher's union boss) "I'll give a damn about the students when they start paying union dues, until then they're just grist for the mill."

[/quote]

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