'Civil Rights' Organizations Stand with Unions, Against Obama and Education Reform

Every now and then, I kind of feel sorry for President Obama. If there’s anyone that has seen bad schools, it would be a community organizer from the south side of Chicago.

President Obama has rolled out a series of education reforms, tepid as they may be, with the goal of improving America’s schools.

To say the least, many of America’s schools, particularly in urban areas, are downright pathetic. You can almost count on dismal student performance, union employees sucking the financial life out of the district, and an assembly line, one-size-fits-all mentality that actually produces graduates who can’t read their own diplomas.

A quality education has been called – rightly so – the civil rights issue of the 21st Century.

It’s no secret Big Labor stands opposed to any meaningful education reform: Labor leaders oppose charter schools because they’re usually not unionized, performance pay because it rewards hard work and innovation, and tenure reform because it threatens the concept of lifetime employment that’s not tied to performance.

President Obama has made tiny steps towards addressing these problems, but instead of demanding better results from urban schools, “civil rights” organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League are standing with the adults, not the children.

Shame on them.

I understand the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers often purchase political allies with lavish contributions. In 2008, for example, the NEA gave the NAACP $200,000 for political activities. The AFT has given smaller sums to the NAACP and other “civil rights” organizations.

It’s clear that the NAACP and similar organizations are more concerned with their friends in the teachers unions than they are about the well-being of minority students. It’s disheartening that they are standing with the unions and fighting Obama’s efforts to improve conditions and opportunities for inner-city children.

But it goes to show that, in some quarters, political ideology trumps what is best for our future: children who can read and are prepared to continue making our country the greatest in the world.