AFT-Speeches

Al Shanker hits on a few major topics in this speech. He begins by talking about the success AFT and the labor movement had in organizing to help Jimmy Carter win the presidency. He mentions the meetings he has had with the new administration that give him hope for funding and enforcement of educational issues and laws like the 1973 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) and Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which deals with improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged.

John Merrow interviews Al Shanker and NEA Executive Director Terry Herndon. They begin by discussing discipline in schools and corporal punishment. Then, Merrow asks the union leaders about standardized tests for students and about evaluative examinations for teachers. The debate then turns to tenure. Herndon and Shanker both advocate strongly for tenure while Merrow questions its purpose. Next the leaders discuss affirmative action and quotas, especially focusing on a court case, Bakke v.

Al Shanker testifies before the Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education on the reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Shanker supports the law''s reauthorization, but he has many suggestions for how it could be improved. His ideas address a variety of topics including financial support for disadvantaged students; bilingual education; and research funding. He also urges lawmakers to enact revisions that acknowledge the existence of collective bargaining agreements so that the law is no longer in conflict with existing labor contracts.

Al Shanker offers his opinion on the proposed creation of a separate, cabinet-level Department of Education. Shanker asserts that such a Department would not really help; rather he argues that it will create too much governmental intrusion into educational administration, a matter which had been decided by individual states, localities, universities, and school systems. Additionally he states that the programs of the current Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) are so interrelated that splitting them would have negative consequences.

In this testimony, Al Shanker discusses Titles I and VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. For Title I, he recommends funding for basic skills training and a literacy initiative. For Title VII, he asserts that the bilingual education program should remain but urges that its transitional nature be enforced so that the program is used to move non-English-speaking students into English-speaking classrooms. Shanker also calls for more funding to train teachers in bilingual education settings. Finally, Shanker discusses the flaws in desegregation programs.