As the former President of the American Federation of Teachers famously said, “I’ll start worrying about the children when they start paying dues.”
> As the former President of the American Federation of Teachers famously said, “I’ll start worrying about the children when they start paying dues.” <
That was Al Shanker. His statement was harsh. But it was also honest (a rare thing these days). And in a sense, Shanker was right. It was simply his job to advocate for the people who paid his salary. Just like it’s the job of your attorney to advocate for you.
A little story you might be interested in.
Many years ago, I went to a meeting where Shanker was the keynote speaker. After his talk, he opened the floor to questions. I’m not sure of the exact wording, but one exchange went something like this:
Questioner: “There are not enough minority teachers in our schools. Shouldn’t we advocate for a quota system?”
Shanker: “No. Our position is that the schools should hire the best candidates, period.”
If Shanker had said that today, he’d be out of office tomorrow.