It's only recently that I started reading Jay Matthews, as he doesn't write for a local paper, but I must give him credit, as he actually gets paid for writing this stuff. His most recent column discusses the woes of two KIPP schools on opposite coasts.
Now out in California, a KIPP principal was accused of outrageous abuse:
.. slamming students against the wall, placing trash cans over their heads, forcing kids to crawl on their hands and knees while barking, and enforcing unreasonably strict bathroom rules, resulting in students having accidents and vomiting on themselves inside the classroom.
I can certainly understand how something like that might upset people. But the principal resigned, and KIPP moved on.
Here's where it gets interesting. What outrage, according to Jay, started the turmoil at the NY KIPP? The teachers tried to form a union. Without blinking an eye, Jay Matthews continues, effectively classifiying unionization as an outrage tantamount to child abuse.
And what is the resolution here? Well, at least one of the teachers requesting they unionize has backed off, and perhaps more will follow. So KIPP can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief.
They should be thankful they have free cheerleaders like Jay Matthews, who print such outrageous bilge. Not so fortunate are your children and mine, who may grow up in a world where such sleazy vilification of united working people is taken for granted.
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