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Teachers' Union Tries to Take Party Labels Off the Political Homework
· New York time
National Education Association President Princess Moss wants to steer the nation's largest labor union toward issue-based advocacy and away from party politics. Her proposed direction shifts the emphasis from partisan identity to the matters the union wants to advance. For an organization representing educators with varied political views, the distinction offers a way to talk about shared concerns without making a party label the first item on the agenda. It is a change in emphasis, not a claim that schools or public policy can somehow be separated from government. That is where the assignment becomes interesting. An organization can focus on an issue rather than a party, but it must still address officials who belong to parties and make decisions through political institutions. The label can move to the back of the folder while the debate stays very much on the desk. Moss's approach also asks a large membership to consider what unites it across disagreements. Advocacy built around issues may give members more room to agree on a goal without agreeing on every candidate. It may also require more explanation whenever a policy dispute lines up with familiar partisan divisions. The union's new syllabus, in other words, does not cancel politics. It asks the class to show its work before circling a party name.
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