After the Collapse of Public Schools is the fourth in a series of books Richard Neal has written on the subject of freedom of choice in education. It is the culmination of many years of research and experience and covers topics not included in the author’s previous books. The key lessons revealed in this book are:
- The government’s interest in education can be satisfied while simultaneously allowing maximum freedom of choice for all families.
- Without certain essential prerequisites in place, there can be no true freedom of choice.
- There are powerful lobbies in The Education Establishment that willfully resist change. To them, freedom is the enemy.
- Many obstacles are in the way of freedom of choice, most of which are contrived to perpetuate the status quo.
- Striking differences exist between “education” in government schools and meaningful learning under freedom of choice
- True freedom in education unleashes a bounty of new learning opportunities not possible in government schools.
- The dominance of the government monopoly in education is coming to an end as competition is allowed to flourish.
- Technology is becoming an unstoppable force in releasing students from compulsory attendance (incarceration?) in government schools.
- Revealed in this book are the fundamental guiding principles for effective learning, most of which are not possible in public schools.
This book provides a unique forecast of what education will be like After the Collapse of Public Schools.
Richard G. Neal has a rich and practical background in education that has prepared him well for the issues in this book. Very few educators can claim such a prodigious and long career in their field. He has taught students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as students in adult education, community colleges, and graduate college. During his early years of public school teaching, he simultaneously served as the executive director of a large teachers’ association. He earned his way through the ranks of assistant principal, principal, supervisor, director, and associate superintendent in large school districts. Additionally, he served as the director of a large adult education program.
In mid-career, Neal left public school employment to serve as associate director of an education consulting firm, specializing in school management and labor relations. During that period he provided instructional programs on labor relations for administrators and school board members throughout the United States and Canada. His many books on labor relations gave needed assistance to thousands of school board members and administrators. In a corollary function, he served nationally as a negotiator for numerous school boards. During that period he was the executive director of both the National Association of Educational Negotiators and the Association of Negotiators and Contract Administrators.
In addition, he was a pioneer in helping school systems decentralize their management structures. He conducted seminars nationally on how to achieve decentralization through school-based management. These seminars were based on his book, School Based Management: A Practical Guide to Implementation, the bible of decentralization of management, as well as three related books on this topic.
Richard G. Neal has not only put his views into practice, he has put his views in writing. He is the author of 17 books and was the editor of several national journals, including the 15-volume Educators Negotiating Service. He is author of more than 100 articles, including such titles as “School-Based Management Lets Principals Slice the Pie”; “The Fine Art of Delegating”; “What’s That You Say? Attentive Listening Is a Crucial Management Skill”; “At Arbitration Hearings, Justice Favors the Well Prepared”; “The U.S. Teacher Strike Scene”; “The Threat of Collective Bargaining to Education”; “Grievance Procedure and Negotiations”; and “Teacher Merit Pay.” His latest books are Making Good Things Happen, Escape to Learning, and The [Deserved] Collapse of Public Schools.
Neal is a graduate of Maryland State University, George Washington University, and Ohio State University. He served as a seaman in the U.S. Navy and an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. He and his wife, Frankie, reside in North Carolina and are grandparents and great grandparents. In order to accomplish all of this in one lifetime, Neal had to master the effective use of time. His time-management techniques are described in his book Time Wasters/Time Savers.
Teacher Unions: Chief Impediment to Education Reform
The unionization of teachers has had a negative impact on public school education.
· Student achievement has declined, when additional resources are factored in.
· Collective bargaining excesses have deprived school districts of vital funds for needed innovations.
· The teacher labor contract has paralyzed the status quo, making significant reform impossible.
· Union leaders and their minions have broken the vital bond between employee and employer, transferring the loyalty of teachers from their communities, which pay their salaries, to their unions.
· The unionization of teachers has ruined what could have been a true profession.
· The astounding success of teacher unions has corrupted needed political balance in public school governance.
· In sum, the public’s servants have been transformed into the public’s masters.
I have served as a chief negotiator for a number of school boards and in a variety of administrative positions for school boards. I can honestly say that where there is strong union presence, making decisions that significantly improve student learning is impossible. The union can stop almost anything that threatens the status quo. I am not alone in my hard-earned views. According to Myron Lieberman, a leading expert on teacher unions (1), the principal obstacles to reform are the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Lieberman maintains that these two unions are the most powerful forces in public education today. With more than 6,000 active staff members, these organizations have more operatives than the Democrat and Republican parties combined. Such power enables them to stop anything they don’t like.
Unions Stifle Reform in New York.
In 1997, writing for the Manhattan Institute (2), Sol Stern stated, “…schools can’t improve until reformers confront the deadly consequences of the power that teachers’ unions wield over a monopolistic industry, not only through contracts but also through the unions’ influence on the elected officials who regulate the education industry. Until then, any reform – whether more money for the schools or smaller classes or high national standards or charter schools – will get short-circuited from the very outset.”
In his excellent treatise, Stern follows the inexorable expansion of teacher unionism (especially in New York) to the point that it “now plays a pivotal role in electing (and defeating) mayors and governors and has often exercised virtual veto power over the selection of school chancellors.” He goes on to describe how principals are emasculated in their power to act on behalf of students by the teachers’ labor contract and the ever-present shop steward looking for a grievance to lodge. He concludes, “What I have described is not fanciful. It is occurring in fits and starts all over the country and is bound to grow. The only thing that can prevent the teachers’ union reform movement from expanding is the one thing the teachers’ union can’t seem to deliver – a public school system that works.”