Usually, teacher unions blast corporations who earn profits from selling goods and services to public schools, particularly charter schools.
But now the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and others want Pearson, the nation’s largest testing, curriculum, and instructional technology company, to make more money.
Huh?
Education Week explains,
The AFT has spent years fighting Pearson over high-stakes testing and other issues. Now, the 1.6 million-member union says the company should consider changes designed to ensure that the company makes more money, citing drops in its share price over the past year. But the union doesn’t want more high-stakes testing as a path to do so.
The reason? More than two dozen AFT affiliates’ retirement funds hold Pearson shares.
…
The AFT is not alone in the fight. Joining it is the National Education Association, which did not respond to requests for comment, and the Trade Union Fund Managers—which counts Great Britain’s National Union of Teachers among its members—as well as the UNISON Staff Pension Fund, which is based in the U.K., and 130 individual shareholders. The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, which is connected to the Chicago Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, led the charge in the initial announcement requesting the resolution.
Man, teacher unions are hypocrites. They regularly criticize for-profit education management organizations that, for example, serve public charter schools. But when they stand to benefit, those principles are quickly and conveniently ignored.
