NZ Teachers Unions Attack President Obama on the Education of Black Children
Blog: Jamie Whyte, ACT Leader
2/07/14
The PPTA and the NZEI, two New Zealand teachers’ unions, have gone to war with President Obama on charter schools, to
which many black American parents choose to send their children.
In his address to mark charter schools day in America, President Obama said that charter schools “try innovative
approaches to teaching and learning in the classroom. This flexibility comes with high standards and accountability;
charter schools must demonstrate that all their students are progressing toward academic excellence. Those that do not
measure up can be shut down. And those that are successful can provide effective approaches for the broader public
education system. They can show what is possible – schools that give every student the chance to prepare for college and
career and to develop a love of learning that lasts a lifetime.”
When I said the same thing in a speech last weekend, Judith Nowotarski, the president of the NZEI, called me a “crack
pot”. Angela Roberts, the head of the PPTA, said I was “immoral”. And John Minto of the pro-union Mana Party called me
an “offensive idiot”.
I wonder if they have contacted Barack Obama to repeat these sentiments. I wonder if they will be writing to the parents
of black children in America whose prospects in life have been transformed by charter schools to tell them that they are
crackpot, immoral, offensive idiots.
ENDS