Unionists vs. Children

There was an interesting exchange between Education Minnesota's president, Tom Dooher, and Rep. Pat Garofalo, a republican member of Minnesota's House. It illustrates the extent to which unionist care more about themselves than students.Here's the exchange...Tom Doheer: Where you have strong teachers unions you have stronger and better student achievement. Those are the facts, that's not just a theory. That's what's out there, that's what we know works. We need to be basing our ideas and our policy on what works, not on theoretical ideasRep. Pat Garofalo: Does anyone dispute that the Minneapolis Teachers Union is strong? How's it working for the kids? How are things going in Minneapolis right now? How are minority achievement scores? How bad do things need to get before people acknowledge we need to change the system?Tom Doorher: Minneapolis is doing really well...students of color are struggling, but our students from upper middle class and Caucasian are doing better.**********Sadly, it appears as though the harsh circumstances that children of color experience as a result of schools that fail continuously do not bother the teacher's union.The exchange begins about 21:57.http://minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/syndicate.php?name=minnesota/news/programs/2011/04/06/midday/midday_hour_1_20110406_64