Education

question his motives!

Why, Joel Klein would never say such a thing about... oh, say, teachers unions. He would never, ever, question the unions' motives, like people are questioning his!

Would he?

Klein: No one has previously brought the education debate to life the way (Steve Brill) has. And not a moment too soon. This is the most important issue our nation faces and, unfortunately, most Americans either don’t know or don’t care much about it. But if they read Brill they will see that the depressing picture he paints of the current state of public education is (unfortunately) accurate and that, in no small measure, this is because the unions effectively promote their own and their members’ self-interests, even when doing so hurts kids.

Well, that's just one quote; it's not like Klein has questioned unions' motivations other times...

Klein: And it reminds us all that our job is to give voice to the voiceless and the powerless kids that are currently being denied the education they need and deserve. Because, let's face it -- they can't afford union dues.

OK, two quotes. That's it, right?

"The union is going to protect incompetent workers -- that is their job," said Klein, who now works for News Corp., owner of The Post. Klein remarked that unions are unhappy with the growth of high-performing charter schools because it threatens their "guaranteed client base..."

Uh...

"Unfortunately our party is killing you, isn't it? We should be for the kids but, truth is, we're beholden to the unions."

Oh, my...

As Albert Shanker, the late, iconic head of the UFT, once pointedly said, "When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."

This last one tells us more about the character of Joel Klein than anything: there is no proof that Shanker ever said those words. Klein's weaselly non-apology after Leo Casey called him out is a real window into the man's soul. Klein and his many fellow travelers in the corporate reform world live to bash the motives of teachers unions and, by extension, teachers. His vitriol against the AFT and the NEA knows no bounds. For him to claim that calling into question his profit motive is "deeply offensive" is hypocrisy of the highest order. Sorry, Joel: live by invective, die by invective.

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/10/joel-klein-on-fainting-couch.html?spref=tw