Civil rights groups are picking the wrong fight with President Obama

Ruth Marcus rebuts the civil rights groups' misguided critiques in this Washington Post column, and nails what's really going on:

There is a historical alignment of interests between civil rights groups and teachers unions, in part because teachers have traditionally made up such a large segment of the black middle class and because so many teachers in inner-city schools are themselves African American.

But to the extent that the teachers unions are blocking an agenda designed to help the poorest students in the worst-performing schools, and that civil rights groups have aligned themselves with the unions' concerns, these groups are making a terrible mistake.

Obama comes to the education debate from the perspective of a community organizer who saw, firsthand, children who were not learning in schools that were failing them. His mission, as president, to change this situation is one that civil rights groups should be cheering, not picking apart.

---------------------

Civil rights groups are picking the wrong fight with President Obama

By Ruth Marcus
Friday, July 30, 2010; A21

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/29/AR2010072905663_pf.html

There is, it turns out, something more galling than teachers unions fighting against proposals that would improve education for students in the worst-performing schools. At least the teachers unions are, presumably, acting in the economic self-interest of their members.