The NAACP has joined the UFT, the New York City teachers union, in a lawsuit to limit the expansion of charter schools in the city. The NAACP’s decision has set off a firestorm, with many erstwhile supporters and many, many parents criticizing the venerable civil rights organization. (See, for example, City Room or the Huffington Post.)
I don’t intend to wade into that war; my more limited goal is to show that like Xerxes trying to hold back the tide, the NAACP is standing athwart the flow of history. My assessment of this tide comes from a perusal of the most recent publication of the congressionally mandated Condition of Education, issued annually by the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The report documents trends in the exercise of school choice, with data that show the growth of school choice especially among black parents. ...
...Together, it seems as though the NAACP is more interested in protecting existing jobs, even if they are in poorly performing schools, than it is in protecting the parents and students who are seeking a better education through charter schools. Rather than trying to thwart this rising tide of choice, the NAACP would be better off joining the movement to increase the supply of good schools and shut down the bad ones that are committing educational malpractice.
[read on at link.]
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