Charter schools

We have done a number of programs on Think Tank regarding charter schools. It is easy to get panelists on the affirmative side of the question.

Not so on the negative. Academics back off when it is mentioned that, after all, it is only an "experimental" idea.

The union people, some of whom are very bright and very knowledgable, have not wanted to play.
I wonder why?

I loved the late Al Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers. We travelled once to Spain for a CSCE meeting in Madrid. We were in adjacent seats for about ten hours.

I am much in favor of the idea. But he was so persuasive about it (black nationationalist schools? racist schools? homo-sexual schools? Anti-Semetic schools?) that I didn't write a column about it for about five years.

President Bush's idea of legislation for No Child Left Behind is a good one.

Ben