NEA Vs. AFT: There Is A Difference

Eduwonk.com has some excellent commentary about a highly interesting article over at Education Week that outlines how strategies differ between to the two major teachers unions when dealing with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

It seems as though the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has chosen a different, and perhaps more productive, method of coping with the law by attempting to change it while the National Education Association (NEA) has taken to the courts.

Over the years, I've noticed that the AFT primarily concerns itself with bread and butter issues like salaries and working conditions, while NEA is much more aggressive in adopting policies that often have little, or nothing to do with education. See this example from the national convention.

One of the things about the NEA that I would like to see changed is direct election of the union's leadership by the rank and file in free, fair, and contested elections. Of course, as these "election" results show, only convention attendees "vote" in the make-believe elections which feature "candidates" for the union's leadership who run unopposed. ---------------------------View the latest edition of the Carnival Of Education as well as entry guidelines right here.

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