It’s only because of the despicable corruption of New Orleans Public School administrators and school board members that I was optimistic that the charter school revolution offered a last-ditch solution to the problem of public education. I recognize the criticisms, but I don’t really see any alternative as long as the same people are running the show.

Since the paper has finally gotten wise to the exclusivity of access to charter school education, and since everyone around the country (especially conservatives) are watching closely the outcome, I thought it might be good to revisit comments made by Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, in a recent Charlie Rose interview.

Despite Charlie Rose’s thinly-veiled bias against public schools, Weingarten remained indignant at the criticisms of teachers, and the constant barrage of challenges to their ability to perform. Everyone’s an expert on education, and depending upon which way politicians think the wind is blowing, they’ve advocated for standards-based tests, merit-based pay for teachers, relaxing rules to make it easier to hire and fire teachers. Imagine having to implement an education reform conceived by the dumbest president in history. What few critics of the public school system possess is actual experience teaching.

What was very funny about both my sister and my stories is that my sister went into medicine first — I went into law first — because we watched how my mother worked, and we thought that teachers worked all the time. The living room table — my mother used to always work on the living room table — unless we were having company, the living room table was festooned with papers all the time. …

The folks who quickly give a bromide about what teachers should do and shouldn’t do, and what unions should do and shouldn’t do, I often just simply say to them, “I want you to teach one period a week, every week.” …

Most teachers put in — not just what they do in the class — but hours and hours and hours a day. …

The reason that teachers still have such union density — are so well organized — is because they are powerless. Everything is thrown at them. … What happens is that we have the fad of the month — we have the reform of the year. And what happens is all they want to do is they want to teach kids.

There are more thoughts on the New Orleans charter school movement over at G-Bitch.