Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy

Columbia Studies in Contemporary American History

by Richard D. Kahlenberg

In Woody Allen's 1973 film, Sleeper , a character wakes up in the future to learn that civilization was destroyed when "a man by the name of Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear warhead." Shanker was condemned by many when he shut down the New York City school system in the bitter strikes of 1967 and 1968, and he was denounced for stirring up animosity between black parents and Jewish teachers. Later, however, he built alliances with blacks, and at the time of his death in 1997, such figures as Bill Clinton celebrated Shanker for being an educational reformer, a champion of equality, and a promoter of democracy abroad.

Shanker lived the lives of several men bound into one. In his early years, he was the "George Washington of the teaching profession," helping to found modern teacher unionism. During the 1980s, as head of the American Federation of Teachers, he became the nation's leading education reformer. Shanker supported initiatives for high education standards and accountability, teacher-led charter schools, and a system of "peer review" to weed out inadequate teachers. Throughout his life, Shanker also fought for "tough liberalism," an ideology favoring public education and trade unions but also colorblind policies and a robust anticommunism—all of which, Shanker believed, were vital to a commitment to democracy.

Although he had a coherent worldview, Shanker was a complex individual. He began his career as a pacifist but evolved into a leading defense and foreign policy hawk. He was an intellectual and a populist; a gifted speaker who failed at small talk; a liberal whose biggest enemies were often on the left; a talented writer who had to pay to have his ideas published; and a gruff unionist who enjoyed shopping and detested sports. Richard D. Kahlenberg's biography is the first to offer a complete narrative of one of the most important voices in public education and American politics in the last half century. At a time when liberals are accused of not knowing what they stand for, Tough Liberal illuminates an engaging figure who suggested an alternative liberal path.

Genres: Education, History, Biography, Politics, Nonfiction

552 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Al Shanker several times when I was active in the UFT during the late 70s, early 80s mostly as an opponent but briefly as an ally. Based on my own observations, the author's depiction of Shanker's leadership in that period is quite accurate. After I had led a couple of job actions, I was invited to join Shanker's caucus which I soon learned was run on the principle of "democratic centralism," i.e., a Stalinist dictatorship. After I broke with him at the AFT convention over an issue of dues allocation, I was cast out of the inner circle.

So back then, I found his methods for running the union to be undemocratic and also opposed his unwavering support for Reagan policy on nuclear weapons and on Central America. Now, however, that I am enjoying the great pension and benefits that Shanker's leadership won for so many millions of teachers and their families, I am grateful to his ghost - which I am sure is just as argumentative and ruthless as he was.

[DH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kahlenberg's appraisal of Shanker is almost hagiographic. He elides Shanker's gravest sin, his adherence George Meany's support of the US invasion of Vietnam. Sadly, Shanker's embrace of johnson and Nixon's Vietnam lies overshadows his accomplishments and contributions to the labor movement. Had Shanker and the Shactmanites employed their political discipline to opposing the war rather than playing cozy with the warmongers they may have prevented the discrediting of the labor movement. "Tough Liberal" provides some useful insights into the decline of liberalism, but Kahlenberg is too wedded to lionizing his hero to really dig into the sources of divisions of labor and the left. Not to be read by itself.

[ronnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kahlenberg's Tough Liberal is truly terrible. Kahlenberg substitutes critical analysis and evidence-based argumentation with praise and worship for the infallible Albert Shanker and his style of unionism - a framework very much present in the current Unity-controlled UFT officialdom. look elsewhere for actual scholarship on the history of teacher unionism, like Marjorie Murphy's Blackboard Unions.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this especially as a public school teacher who thought I knew a lot about unions, but in a lot of ways this book helped provide context for the history of labor movements and education in America that I know now I have to learn more about.  Framing all of this through Shanker allows the author to go from the Civil Rights era all the way to Clinton and Bush and the standards movement that is still playing out today.
Early chapters were especially fascinating from teacher unions in NYC in their infancy with the divide in pay and gender at the elementary and high school levels, to something as simple as the fight to not need a doctors note for a sick day and the unending struggle to "professionalize" education,  to the explicit connections and collaboration of the Civil Rights Movement and organized labor. 

There are times where perhaps the author is too generous with justifying the views and actions of Shanker for a modern reader (drawing lines from Vietnam and that brand of liberalism Shanker endorsed to the failed policies that lead to U.S. invasion of Iraq and most confoundingly the concept of "color-blindness" that does not make sense to a modern liberal). But this was also a major point the author was striving for: Shanker was complex.  In that way the book was a great success. As I read and imagined myself teaching during his tenure I found myself oscillating between seeing him as a true champion of my profession and the next minute an old guard who bordered on racism or outdated views.  The use of Shanker worked quite well to show the micro and macro progression of different eras in American society, politics,  and educational reform. 

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shankar's clearly one of the major labor figures of the 20th century, at the center of the rise of teacher's unions and the vicious racialized battle over "community control" in Ocean Heights/Brownsville in 1968, as well as playing a key role in the charter school movement, which has veered in a direction he didn't anticipate and wouldn't have liked. Kahlenberg tells the story and provides a lot of detail, but he's too close to Shankar to present a fair assessment of the criticisms that met him at key moments. As long as you maintain distance, it's a useful book, but the distance is necessary.

[Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attacking teachers' unions is very popular these days. From Steven Brill's latest unsubstantiated hit piece to the annoying banner ads from Education Reform Now that have been popping up on almost every website, teachers' unions are, according to some, the downfall of Western society.

The campaign against teachers' unions is distressing because not only are teachers one of the last highly unionized sectors of the workforce, but teacher unions have consistently fought to improve and preserve public education. While protecting bad teachers is a legitimate criticism that can be leveled at teachers unions', union critics would have us all believe the AFT and NEA spend most of the day scheming to protect incompetent morons who molest children. The obsessive focus on tenure obscures the fact that even if all of the "bad" teachers were fired tomorrow and replaced, it wouldn't solve the problems that plague troubled public schools. The problems run much deeper. Unfortunately, that's how the debate has been framed, and it make sense for conservatives and business interests (who love their charter schools) as it provides the easiest way to attack one of the remaining strongholds of organized labor.

The debate needs to be reframed, and towards the end of his biography of Albert Shanker, Kahlenberg frames the question exactly right: "Can one seriously argue that education would be better off in a world without teachers' unions--with lower pay, larger class sizes, less professional development, weaker discipline of students, and less dignity for teachers?" That's not an argument conservatives can win, so instead they focus on the worst excesses of the teacher tenure system.

These facts are apparently lost on hacks like Steve Brill, who seems to have got the charter school religion so popular amongst elite policy makers. Amazingly, Brill admits in his article that "Charter schools are not always better for children. Across the country many are performing badly," but then goes on to say, "when run well — as most in Harlem and New York’s other most-challenged communities appear to be — they can make a huge difference in a child’s life." Does he not realize the second half of his statement could be applied to any great public school? He then goes on to compare a good charter school Harlem to a bad public school, which tells us exactly nothing about the effectiveness of charters or the alleged harm caused by teachers' unions. There is mounting evidence that charter schools are not better than public schools.

Leaving Brill aside, Shanker was a fascinating guy, and Kahlenberg's book is well written. I don't agree with everything Shanker stood for (his foreign policy views, in particular, were imperialistic and misguided), but he was a brilliant guy and an incredible organizer and leader. Sadly, some of his innovative ideas like charter schools (which he saw as being run by teachers and parents collaboratively), peer review, and high standards have been distorted or ignored.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT book on the history of the American Federation of Teachers - how they came about, WHY they came about and why many of us wish Shanker was still in charge. He was ahead of his time but more importantly, he was guided by a clear set of philosophical guidelines or principles that were based on his belief in teachers as professionals who should be paid well and respected for their skills. He also felt that for them to be respected as professionals, there should be a process for continuing education and advancement for good teachers and protection from arbitrary and sometimes political decision making and at the same time, there should be provisions for getting bad teachers out of the system. Shanker was a brilliant and passionate advocate of workers rights without compromising on the issue of competency. He was against affirmative action based on race because he felt (and I agree) that it should be based on economic status. The problem is not race. It is poverty.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is frustrated with teachers unions today as I have been and anyone who is interested in history and education.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A work of many words and ideas to catalog a life lived richly and powerfully through the birth of modern public education with all its flaws and promises. Kahlenberg did well to do justice to a life that is easily overlooked but not easily forgotten once considered.

[Jason S · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very detailed biography of Shanker. Surprisingly conservative at times, Shanker really has a central role in every debate about public education in the USA, even up to today.