I don't always agree with Marc Tucker but he knows a heckuva lot about how other countries organize their education systems; and it turns out that knowledge extends to how their teacher unions have evolved, what roles the unions play, and how their bargaining processes work. The differences set forth in his exceptionally interesting new paper?between the U.S. and northern Europe are enlightening, even provocative. And he's got at least 3/4 of an important point when he describes the need to reform U.S.-style collective bargaining without alienating all the teachers at a time when we need their cooperation in sundry education reforms. You can find his paper here.
?Chester E. Finn, Jr.
