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    "ocrText": "http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-../oma.eop.gov.us/1997/4/9/5.text1\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nOffice of the Press Secretary\nFor Immediate Release\nApril 9, 1997\nREMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT\nAT MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR AL SHANKER\nLisner Auditorium\n12:12 P.M. EDT\nTHE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much to all of you, but\nespecially to Eadie and the members of Al's family, to the members of\nthe family of the AFT, the other labor leaders who are here, and other\nfriends and admirers and those who are indebted to Al Shanker.\nI'd like to begin simply by thanking everyone who has\nalready spoken and all the people at the AFT who put together that\nwonderful film at the beginning. I think if Al were here and were\nwhispering in my ear, he would say, \"This has been very nice, Mr.\nPresident, but keep it short, we're getting hungry.\" (Laughter.)\nI have to say also that Hillary very much wanted to be here\nwith me today. She worked with Al on a number of things over the last 15\nyears and a long-standing commitment in New York kept her away. But I\nwant to speak for both of us today in honoring a person we considered a\nmodel, a mentor, and a friend, a union leader, a national leader, a world\nleader. But first, last, and always, as the film began today, Al Shanker\nwas our teacher, and clearly one of the most important teachers of the\n20th century.\nIn 1983, in April, the Nation At Risk report broke like a\nstorm over America and resonated deeply in the consciousness of the\ncountry, that our country was at risk because we weren't doing right by\nour children and our schools. One month before, I had signed a law\npassed by my legislature establishing a commission to study our schools\nand to improve them. And I had appointed my wife to chair the\ncommission. And we were eagerly reading this report and the reactions to\nit, and we noticed that there was Al Shanker, the first leader of a union\nto come out and say, this is a good thing, we need to do this, we've got\nto raise these standards, we've got to hold ourselves to higher\nstandards, we've got to be accountable, we owe our children more.\nThat began what was for me one of the most remarkable\nassociations of my entire working life. Hillary and I had occasion to be\nwith Al on so many different occasions, and one of the previous speakers\nsaid, you know, if you go to enough of these education meetings the usual\nsuspects are rounded up, and after a while we could all give each other's\nspeech -- (laughter) -- except for Al. (Laughter.) And it really did\nmake a huge difference. After a while you get tired, you get off the\nplane, you're spending the night in another strange hotel room, you're\nshowing up at another meeting.\nBut if he was there I always kind of got my energy flowing,\nmy juices were running, and I knew it was going to be an interesting\ntime. He was always saying that the students he taught wanted to know,\n1 of 4\n4/19/99 4:12 PM\nhttp://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-.//oma.eop.gov.us/1997/4/9/5.text.1\nwell, does it count. I can tell you whenever he talked, it counted. It\ncounted.\nOver all the years it counted for me. In 1989 when\nPresident Bush called the governors together for this education summit at\nthe University of Virginia and I was the designated Democrat -- stay up\nhalf the night and try to write those education goals. I was always\nconsulting Al who was there -- trying to draw out of him exactly how we\nought to write this SO that in the end we could actually wind up with not\njust goals, but standards that would apply to our schools and students\nacross the country. And we thought we had done a pretty good job.\nIt didn't work out exactly as we wanted. So, in 1993, when\nI became President, we were working together again, and we drafted this\nGoals 2000 legislation. And we thought, well, this will get it done\nbecause the states will be developing their standards, but we'll have a\nnational measure of testing whether we're meeting those standards, which\nis what we agreed to do way back in 1989 because Al Shanker wanted us to\ndo that. He knew it was the right thing to do. But it never quite\nworked out because people always could find some excuse for it not to\ncount.\nSo, in my State of the Union address this February, I\nannounced the plan that is what Al Shanker wanted us to do all along,\nthat we would develop national standards and that we would begin to make\nsure they counted, and we would begin with a 4th-grade reading test and\nan 8th-grade math test, but that we ought to go on and do more after\nthat.\nAnd after the speech, I called Al, as I had been calling him\nsince he'd gotten sick periodically, and I said, you know, I hope you\nfeel good now, because you've been telling us to do this for years and\nyears and years, and finally your crusade will be America's crusade.\nWell, he only lived a couple of weeks after that, but he had to know that\nwhat he did counted.\nYou know, I have to tell you that one of the things that I\nvalued most about him and one of the reasons that he had such a big\nimpact on me is that I always felt that I could say whatever was on my\nmind to him without thinking about how I would say it. You know how we\nall relate to each other, you know, when teachers talk to administrators\n-- it's not that you're not honest with them, but you have to think about\nhow you have to be honest with them. Right? (Laughter.) Or school\nboard members talk to teachers or politicians talk to union leaders or\nunion leaders talk to politicians. It's not that we don't say what's on\nour mind, but we think, well, we have all these sort of preconceptions\nthat we've learned over a lifetime about how people who are in some other\ngroup view the world. So it's not that you're not honest with them, but\nyou know you've got to talk to them a certain way or you won't even be\nheard.\nI never gave a second thought to that with Al Shanker. I\nnever thought, here's this guy who grew up in New York City and I'm some\nrube from the country and I'm a politician and he's a labor leader, he's\ngot all this stuff, I got to think about -- after about the second time I\nwas with him I never thought about it anymore. It's like a huge burden\nlifted off your shoulders to realize you can say any outrageous thing\nthat comes to your mind if you believe it, and here's a person you can\ntrust to absorb it with a level of self-confidence and integrity that\nwill permit an honest conversation to ensue.\nAnd I see a lot of you nodding your heads. You know I'm\ntelling the truth, don't you? You felt the same thing. (Laughter.)\nAnd if we could all achieve that with each other, if somehow\n2 of 4\n4/19/99 4:12 PM\nhttp://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-.//oma.eop.gov.us/1997/4/9/5.text.1\nwe could give each other the confidence to think and be who we are, the\nway he did to all of us, what a better world we could build. And he did\nit not to let us off the hook but to put us on the spot. That was the\ninteresting thing that I thought was so important. He thought that this\nwhole standards movement was essential for democracy to work, that it was\nthe only way we could ever give every child, without regard to their\nbackground, a chance to live up to his or her God-given capacity. It was\nthe only way we could ever avoid the kind of false elitism that always\ncreeps into every society, was to give everybody a chance to reach high\nand achieve high and find dignity and meaning in life.\nHe did not believe that how you learn depended upon accident\nof birth. And he thought all the arguments used to deny the need for\nsome sort of national standards for measuring ourselves were ridiculous.\nI'm very sensitive to that now because one of the things I heard him say\nover and over again was he would compare standards. When people would\nsay, well, standards will tie the hands of teachers or they won't be fair\nto poor kids and I heard all these arguments a thousand times. He\nwould equate it to surgery. Now, I'm sensitive to that now. (Laughter.)\nAnd .I. thought to my self, how would I feel if Al Shanker --\nI never realized it -- how would I feel if I had heard my surgeon just\nbefore my recent surgery making all those arguments about there really is\nno uniform standards here. (Laughter.) Well, there is, but I'm not\ngoing to observe it because I have my own way to do it. I'd say, please\nI'd like to have another doctor. (Laughter.)\nWe're laughing about this now, but this was a profoundly\nwise man who lived with us. And because he was also a good man and a\nself-confident man and he wanted us to be fearless and thinking, he made\nus feel that we could say what was on our minds, but that we had to keep\nbeing honest and reaching higher and going further.\nAl Shanker once said something about Bayard Rustin that he\nshould have said about himself. He said the great thing about Rustin was\nthat he didn't put up his finger to see which way the wind was blowing.\nHe had the guts to say what he felt was right, no matter how unpopular it\nwas.\nAl Shanker would say something on one day that would delight\nliberals and infuriate conservatives. The next day, he would make the\nconservatives ecstatic and the liberals would be infuriated. He really\n-- even though he came out of the, if you will, the left wing of our\nsociety in the sense that he was a passionate union leader, when he\nthought about the future, he never thought about what wing he was\nseeking; he thought about how he could seek the truth and synthesize the\nfacts and move us all forward. And that too is a great gift that we will\nsorely miss.\nAnd again, I say, he let no one off the hook no one\nnot politicians, not administrators, not the public, not the students,\nand certainly not the teachers.\nIn the last years of his life, he worked hard to bring\npeople all over the world together around democracy and freedom and\ndignity. And he wanted teachers to lead the way. As the son of Russian\nimmigrants, he had a deep interest in the work of the United States\nInformation Agency, which has been sending American teachers abroad and\nbringing foreign teachers to America to support the development of\ndemocracy, especially in Central and Eastern Europe and the newly\nindependent states of the former Soviet Union.\nI want to announce that today, from now on, teachers who\nparticipate in these international programs in civic education will be\ndesignated Shanker Fellows. (Applause.) Some of them are here with us\n3 of 4\n4/19/99 4:12 PM\nhttp://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-.//oma.eop.gov.us/1997/4/9/5-text.l\ntoday, and we thank them for their presence.\nIn 1999, when the first 4th graders take the reading exam\nand the first 8th graders take the math exam, they, too, will be part of\nAl Shanker's legacy. And if, God willing, our budget passes,\ninstead of 500 of those board-certified teachers, like the wonderful\nwoman we heard just before the Vice President and I came up here, that\nAl Shanker worked so hard for, we'll have 100,1000 -- 100,000.\n(Applause.)\nHe really believed if we could get one in every school they\nwould be magnets, they would change the whole culture of American\neducation. If this national certification movement, the standards\nmovement for teachers could just get one of those board-certified\nteachers in every schoolhouse in America, it would change the culture of\neducation forever and change the whole way we thought about teaching.\nAnd we are determined to do that, and that, too, will be part of his\nlegacy -- along with his love of life and music and art and bread; along\nwith all the energy that he put into his family and his friends.\nAl Shanker's life fully reflected the wisdom of the words of\nHerman Melville -- I bring out this quote from time to time and I don't\nthink I know anyone it applies to better. Herman Melville said, \"We\ncannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our\nfellow men. And among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions\nrun as causes, and they come back to us as effects.\"\nAl Shanker's cause was education. And through his lifelong\ndevotion to it, he lifted up our children, our schools, our teachers and\nothers who work in our schools, our nation and our world. He was truly\nour master teacher.\nToday, education is the number one priority of the American\npeople. Al Shanker helped to make it so. His life was full of tumult\nand controversy, of growth and triumph. But what I think he would want\nto know is, does it count? You bet it does. It counts, Al; and we thank\nyou, we love you, and we bid you Godspeed. Thank you. (Applause.)\nEND\n12:25 P.M. EDT\n4 of 4\n4/19/99 4:12 PM\nhttp://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-./oma.eop.gov.us/1997/2/25/1.text.1\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nOffice of the Press Secretary\nFor Immediate Release\nFebruary 24, 1997\nSTATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT\nHillary and I were deeply saddened today to learn of the passing\nof Albert Shanker.\nAl spent his life in pursuit of one of the noblest of causes: the\nimprovement of our public schools. Since 1964, he led educational\norganizations -- first as the President of the United Federation of\nTeachers in New York and for twenty-two years as the President of the\nAmerican Federation of Teachers. He challenged the country's teachers\nand schools to provide our children with the very best education\npossible, and made a crusade out of the need for educational standards.\nHe believed, as I do, that children should notgo through school without\nlearning the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.\nOur thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Eadie, and his family\ntonight.\n-30-30-30-\n1 of 1\n4/19/99 4:19 PM\nNoa A. Meyer\n04/19/99 06:40:47 PM\nRecord Type:\nRecord\nTo:\nChristine N. Macy/WHO/EOP\nCC:\nSubject: shanker tales\nFirst time that the award is being called the Albert Shanker Distinguished award even though\nthey have given it under a different name in past years.\nThomas Hobart, President will introduce HRC.\nPOSSIBLE JOKE: Shanker was a great orator who could spellbind an audience. Every time\nhe gave a speech at the United Teachers there was a pool for how long he would speak. He\ncould easily talk for over an hour. There was always a pool and knew that there would be a\npool.\n1983 a Nation at Risk - Al was the first to say that they were right that we were on the rising\ntide of mediocrity. Statesman for public education. That era of reform that he started has kept\neducation on the front burner since 1983. He did a remarkable thing for public education and\nunions. Stood up and said we need to make some changes.\nAl was in the forefront of the civil rights movement. Under his leadership the UFT sent\nstation wagons to the south for voter registration in the 60s. He walked with MLK - in the\nbeginning of civil rights. Was there for the beginning of collective bargaining. Always fought\nfor the underdog.\nConnoisseur of wine and loved to bake bread - which is a well known fact about him. Once\nhe was in Washington eating at the restaurant at the Hiatt hotel across from the AFL - CIO\nand he ordered some olive bread. After he tasted the olive bread he asked the waiter to bring\nhim a cutting board and a knife. He went down to his room and brought up some home made\nolive bread. He gave a piece to the waiter and some others working at the restaurant. They\nwere so impressed by the quality of his bread that they asked him to come and guest bake for\nthem. He obviously was a little too busy to work as a baker on top of all of his other interests\nand responsibilities, but his expertise in so many areas should be noted.\nHe was known for the his busy schedule. On any given day he could be delivering a speech\nover lunch in LA and then off to Boston to deliver a speech over dinner.\nHe was up every morning at 5 to do his morning reading and was on the go after that.\nHe always said that the best way to educate yourself on anything is to read everything you can\nget your hands on.\nHe was a devout bargain hunter. Very busy person who always found time to shop. Loved\nstereo equipment - could tell you just about anything about stereo equipment.\nMulti-faceted human being who wasn't just a union leader or an educator.\nNew York Times in 1975 ran a photo that captured him walking by a \"danger\" sign during a\nbreak from strike negotiations. That was how he was known - as a walking time bomb.\nMovie, \"Sleeper\" Woody Allen takes up after a war and revolution about 100 years from now.\nWoody Allen was frozen wakes up after 100 years. Someone asks him what happened and\nsomeone explains that, \"some guy named Al Shanker blew up the world with the Atomic\nbomb.\" Viewed as a militant. But his image was later reformed with A Nation at Risk report\nand his leadership in accepting its criticism and recommendation.\nCharter schools not popular with this audience.\n22-Apr-99 01:38pm\nFrom-\nInside AT 1'- April ,\nT-458 P.02/04 F-518\naftorg\nRemembering Al Shanker\nInside AFT\nInside AFT--Special Edition--April 9, 1997\nCLINTON, GORE LEAD TRIBUTES AT SHANKER MEMORIAL\nGATHERING\nA courageous leader a steadfast friend a tireless fighter a gifted intellect\nand, above all, a master teacher.\nThat's how Albert Shanker was remembered at a memorial gathering for the\nlate AFT president at Washington, D.C.'s Lisner Auditorium on April 9. Led\nby President Bill Clinton and Vice President Albert Gore Jr., an array of\neducation and labor leaders shared heartfelt tributes and honored the lasting\nlegacy of Shanker, who died Feb. 22 after a long battle with cancer.\n\"First, last and always, Al Shanker was our teacher, and clearly one of the\nmost important teachers of the 20th century,\" Clinton told the crowd. \"To\nhonor Shanker's contribution to education and his efforts to foster democracy\naround the globe, Clinton announced that teachers who participate in the\nUnited States Information Agency's exchange program in civic education\nwould be designated as \"Albert Shanker Fellows.\"\nSETTING THE AGENDA\nClinton also said Shanker's legacy is seen in major components of the\neducation agenda the President unveiled in his 1997 State of the Union\nmessage, including proposed federal funding to expand dramatically\ncertification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards\nand new national assessments in reading and math to make high academic\nstandards count for students.\n\"Today, education is the number one priority of the American people. Al\nShanker helped make it so,\" Clinton said. \"But what I think he would want to\nknow is, Does it count? You bet it does. It counts, Al; and we thank you, we\nlove you and we bid you Godspeed.\"\nTRANSFORMING THE DEBATE\nhttp://www.aff.org/shanker/shanker9.htm\n4/22/99\n22-Apr-99 01:38pm\nFrom-\nT-458\nP.03/04\nF-518\nGore described Shanker as a tireless fighter and a man of principle--someone\nwho battled not only for better schools but also for democracy and human\nrights around the globe. On education, \"he was guided by a simple standard,\"\nGore remembered. \"He went to work every day because he knew the crusade\nto improve our public schools was good and necessary and right.\"\nThis lifelong battle for meaningful reforms ultimately transformed the\nnational debate on education, Gore stressed. \"In a sense we were all\n[Shanker's] pupils. Where we stand today is very different because of\nwhere he stood.\"\nAs president of the union from 1974 to 1997, Shanker \"didn't just run the\norganization but changed it--and profoundly for the better,\" AFT secretary\ntreasurer Edward J. McElroy reminded the crowd. He described him as a\ngifted leader who understood early on that professionals expected unions to\ngo beyond wages and working conditions and evolve into organizations \"that\nbuild the institutions where members work.\"\nA NATION AT RISK\nEducation Secretary Richard Riley remembered Shanker's tireless advocacy\nof a public education system worthy of this nation. \"He challenged us to do\nbetter. And when we did improve, he challenged us to do better even still,\"\nRiley said, adding, \"It's our job to keep up the fight\" for better schools.\nBoth Clinton and National Education Association president Bob Chase\nremembered Shanker's early, courageous stand for school reform when the\nlandmark \"A Nation at Risk\" was released in 1983. \"In retrospect, it changed\neverything,\" said Chase, allowing teachers unions to \"become agents of\nchange\" in the education debate.\nHUNDREDS AT GATHERING\nA string quartet played as nearly 1,000 AFT staff and leaders, representatives\nof government, education institutions, labor and civil rights organizations,\noverseas trade unions and friends and admirers gathered for the tribute. The\nprogram began with a video tribute that outlined the AFT president's early\nbattles to win collective bargaining for teachers; his early involvement with\nthe civil rights movement and his commitment to democracy and free trade\nunionism abroad; his efforts to shape the education reform agenda; and his\nexpansion of the union to include paraprofessionals and school-related\npersonnel, health care employees and state and local employees.\nAlso addressing the Lisner audience were AFT vice presidents Sandra\nFeldman, Thomas Reece and Lorretta Johnson; former AFL-CIO president\nLane Kirkland and needle trades union president Jay Mazur; George\nhttp://www.aft.org/shanker/shanker9.hm\n4/22/99\n22-Apr-99 01:38pm\nFrom-\nInside AT 1 - April 7, 1111\nT-458 P.04/04 F-518\nWashington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, former New\nYork City Schools chancellor Anthony Alvarado and Rebecca Palacios, a\nNBPTS-certified teacher from Corpus Christi, Texas; international labor\nleaders Fred Van Leeuwen and Stefan Nedzynski; Rep. Eleanor Holmes\nNorton of the District of Columbia and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New\nYork.\nThis special edition of \"Inside AFT\" was prepared by Mike Rose. Trish\nGorman, editor.\nBack to AFT Main Page\nAmerican Federation of Teachers - 555 New Jersey Ave, NW - Washington, DC 20001\nCopyright by the American Federation of Teachers. All rights reserved. Photographs and illustrations, as well as text, cannot\nbe used without permission from the AFT.\nhttp://www.aft.org/shanker/shanker9.hmn\n4/22/99\n22-Apr-99\n01:20pm\nFrom-\nT-457\nP.06/08\nF-517\nNew York Times\nFebruary 24, 1997\nAlbert Shanker, 68, Combative Leader\nWho Transformed Teachers' Union, Dies\nthe education of their children.\nBy JOSEPH BERGER\nSome members of the city's cen-\nAlbert Shanker, who rose from be\ntral Board of Education opposed\ning a substitute mathematics teach-\nsuch community control, fearing for\ner to become a tough, canny labor\ntheir authority. Mr. Shanker, the son\nleader who to the 1960's transformed\nof European Socialists who himself\nNew York City's United Federation\nhad marched in civil rights protests\nof Teachers into one of the nation's\nin Selma. Ala, was originally amena-\nmost powerful unions, died on Satur-\nble to the first experiments in com-\nday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering\nmunity governance.\nCancer Center in Manhattan Mr.\nIn March 1967 an agreement was\nShanker, the longtime president of\nreached between the State Legisla-\nthe American Federation of Teach\ncure and Mayor John V. Lindsay for\ners, the parent organization of the\nan extra $54 million in state aid to\nUnited Federation of Teachers, was\neducation If New York City would\n68 and lived in Mamaroneck, N.Y.,\npresent a school decentralization\nand Manham\nplan by the end of the year.\nHe died after a three-year bartle\nThree experimental school dis-\nwith bladder cancer, said Janet\ntricts were set up in three poor dis-\nBass, a spokeswoman for the Ameri-\ntricts with large minority popula-\ncan Federation of Teachers.\ntions - East Harlem. the Lower\nSandra Feldman, who succeeded\nEast Side and Ocean Hill-Browns-\nMr. Shanker as president of the\nville in Brooklyn. Mr. Shanker's\nU.F.T. in 1986, on Saturday called her\nAmoriated Press. ISSD\nunion gave advice to Rhody McCoy. a\npredecessor a teacher's teacher who\nAlbert Shanker\nblack teacher who was named ad-\nwas \"deeply committed to both pub-\nministrator of the governing board of\nnc education and the labor move-\nIn the second act of his life as\nthe the Ocean Hill-Brownsville dis-\nment as a means of creating a better\nlife for all Americans.\"\npresident of the American Federa-\ntrice Mr. Shanker even arranged for\ndon of Teachers, with 800,000 mem-\nvoluntary transfers of some teachers\n\"He could be passionate about his\nbers concentrated in Large cities, be\nout of Ocean Hill and their replace-\nbeliefs,\" she said, \"yet as the same\nwas widely regarded as a champion\nment by more ideologically conge-\ntime he had the rare ability to ro-\nof rigorous educational standards. In\nnial professionals.\nthink issues and come up with fresh\na column that he wrote weekly for\nBut in a turnabout in April 1968,\napproaches as times changed.\"\nAlthough he became a respected\nyears as an advertisement in the\nMr. McCoy summarily transferred\nthinker on national educational is-\nWeek to Review section of The New\n13 white teachers, assistant princi-\nsues, Mr. Shanker is best remem-\nYork Times, he called for a national\npals and one principal out of the\nbered for his combative role as the\ncompetency test for teachers, pay\ndistrict against their will Mr. McCoy\nbead of the 85,000-member U.F.T.,\nincrements tied to teacher quality\noffered no specific pedagogic rea-\nand more rigorous requirements for\nsons, but It was believed he thought\nthe New York City teachers' union,\nhigh school graduation.\nthat the professionals in question\nduring the turmoil of the dty's\nIn yesterday's column, be dis-\nwere trying to sabotage the decen-\nschool decentralization experiments\nin 1968, turmoti that resulted in the\ncussed the flaws of the self-esteem\ntralization experiment.\nmovement to schools. Educational\n\"He called me and said, 'Some-\nclosing of most schools for 55 days\nduring the fall term and which were\nauthorities like Theodore Sizer\nthing is going to happen and I'm\ncalled him a \"towering figure.\"\nafraid it's going to hurt our relation-\nso racially and religiously divisive\nthat the effects are still being felt\n\"I'm proudest of the fact that I've\nship,' Mr. Shanker recalled. \"It\nthree decades later.\nconfounded people by being honest,\"\nwas absolutely impossible to fathom\nThe dour Mr. Shanker became so\nMr. Shanker said in a July interview\nexcept on the basis that be was\nthreatened or something had hap-\nwidespread a symbol of stubborn\nwith Joyce Purnick of The Times. \"I\nbelieve in traditional discipline and\npened there\" in the district\ncombativeness that Woody Allen in-\ncluded a reference to him to his 1973\nthat history should not be distorted\ncomedy \"Sleeper.\" A character\nfor current purposes. But 1 also be-\nA Testing Ground\nplayed by Mr. Allen is frozen in 1973\nlieve that smaller schools where\nand awakens tn the year 2173 to learn\nteachers and kids know each other's\nFor Community Control\nthat civilization was destroyed be-\nnames are more effective. I called\nTo Mr. Shanker and his union, the\ncause \"a man by the name of Albert\nthings as I saw them. so in certain\ntransfers were illegal, a violation of\nShanker got hold of a nuclear war-\nways I could be viewed as a progres-\ncivil service laws and union can-\nbead\"\nsive educator and in other ways as a\ntracts involving the right of workers\ntraditionalist.\"\nto hold jobs unless charges of Incom-\nUndoubtedly Obstinate,\nMr. Shanker, a former junior high\npetence were proven They also wor-\nschool mathematics teacher, had a\nried that the action in Ocean Hill\nBut a Solid Negotiator\nquickstiver intellect and was a pow-\nwould spread to other communities\nerful debater, blessed with a memo-\nwhere local figures who Mr. Shanker\nAt times Mr. Shanker was un-\nry for anecdotes and metaphors. But\ncalled \"vigilantes\" would try to seize\ndoubtedly obstinate. But be was also\nbe rose to fame as a fighter more\ncontrol of the schools.\nan artful negotiator and organizer\nthan a thinker, in his iron-willed bat-\nTo supporters of the Ocean Hill\nwho built the federation from a fee-\nthe against efforts by local black\ndistrict, the matter was a test case of\nble association into perhaps the\ngroups to take control of their neigh-\ncommunity control. Coming after the\nstate's most powerful union, that\nborhood schools.\nurban riots that followed the assassi-\ncould virtually veto appointments to\nIn the late 1960's, many blacks in\nnation of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther\nthe Board of Education and deter-\nNew York City were frustrated by\nKing Jr. and a wave of upheavals by\nmine the makeup of the city's 32\nthe sputtering drive for integration\nstudents on college campuses, the\nlocal school boards.\nand the school system's poor record\nconflict seemed to crystallize the na-\nHe was also a pragmarist willing\nin educating their children. They\ntion's social fault lines.\nin 1975 B put $150 million of his\npressed for school decentralization\nThe union prevailed in court but\nunion's pension funds at risk to save\nin their communities, believing It\ncould not get political leaders like\nthe city from defaulting on its debts.\nwould give parents a greater voice in\nMayor Lindsay to use police to re-\nMore\n1\nT-457\n107/08\nF-517\n22-Apr-99\n01:20pm\nFrom-\nWilliam\nE\nAlbert Shanker at a rally in City Hall Park in September 1968 during the teachers' strikes. The walkouts\nclosed most of the city's schools for 55 days, putting more than a million children out of classrooms.\nstore the teachers\ntrustee to oversee the return of the\nBut in 1996, Mr. Shanker was criti-\n\"Lindsay told me dozens of times\nunion teachers.\ncal of decentralization in his Inter-\nduring the strike: 'Al, you're abso-\nMr. Shanker spent 15 days in jail\nview with Ms. Purnick Agreeing\nlutely right, but do you want the city\nfor calling the strikes. For years\nwith many in education, he said that\nto burn down?'' Mr. Shanker re-\nafterward, he was often demonized\nlocal school board elections contin-\ncalled \"I said, 'Where's it going to\nfor tarnishing his union's reputation\nued to produce corrupt board mem-\nstop? That's blackmail\"\nfor Idealism and leaving a legacy of\nbers, very low voter turnout and con-\nIn September. Mr. Shanker called\ntensions between blacks and Jews.\nfusion over unnecessarily complex\nthe first of three citywide strikes that\nThe accusations were deeply\nballots.\ncrippled the nation's largest public\nwounding to Mr. Shanker, whose in-\n\"It's all a shame and it's a moral\nschool system. The walkouts suc-\ntegration efforts began when he was\noutrage,\" Mr. Shanker said \"But\nceeded in closing 85 percent of the\na college student at the University of\nhow much does that have to do with\ncity's 900 schools for a total of 55\nIllinois and picketed segregated\nwhether the kids are going to read on\ndays into November, putting more\nmovie houses and restaurants in Ut-\ngrade level or not? There's some\nthan a million children out of class-\nbana. But he always defended his\ncorrelation, but I would say not\nrooms and forcing tens of thousands\ndecision, comparing the expulsion of\nmuch Because you're still not going\nof working parents to scramble for\nteachers to Nazism.\nto educate kids, because you have no\nchild care arrangements.\n\"To me, what was going on here\neducational plan our there.\"\nDuring the days when schools\nwas the same thing.\" he said. \"Push-\nThe leader of the strike than\nwere open. union teachers bad to\ning a guy out of a principaiship be-\nchanged New York was, for most of\nendure angry crowds outside many\ncause he's white. Taking a bunch of\nhis life. a tall, lanky and ungainly\nschools. Inside the Ocean Hill\nteachers and calling them all sorts of\nintellectual with black horn-rimmed\nschools, members of the Black Pan-\nanti-Semitic names and threatening\nglasses and a mournful CBSL, like\nthere and militant local leaders like\nto kill their kids or their busbands or\nEeyore's in \"Winnie the Pooh.\" He\nRobert (Sonny) Carson, who had\nwives. Somebody has to stand up to\nloved Ideological debate and devel-\nbeen invited in by Mr. McCoy, deliv-\nthis and say you're not going to profit\noped a pincer wit that enabled him to\nered antiwhite diatribes and threat-\nby this.\"\nexcel at it. An introspective man who\nened the teachers' families. The at-\nIn the aftermath of the 1968\nread widely in history and biogra-\nmosphere was also poisoned by anti-\nstrikes, the State Legislature passed\nphy. he also became a sophisticated\nSemitism directed at the many Jew-\na law that decentralized the city's\nbaker of bread, a winemaker. an\nish members of the U.F.T. And-Se-\nschools into 32 districts and gave\naficionado of African art and a seek-\nmitic carcalls were shouted by pro-\nelected boards the power to run ele-\ner of the best stereo equipment.\ntesters and appeared in newspapers\nmentary and juntor high schools. Be-\nAlbert Shanker was born Sept. 14,\nhind the scenes, Mr. Shanker made\nput out by the Afro-American Teach-\n1928, into a family that was hardly\ners Association. A student's anti-Se-\nsure the law had strong protections\nuncommon an the Lower East Side,\nfor teachers' jobs.\nmitic poem was read on the radio.\nYlddish-speaking Russian trami-\nEach time the Board of Education\ngrants with Socialist passions.\nA Changing View\nHis father, Morris, delivered news-\ngave in to Mr. McCoy's governing\nhoard. Mr. Shanker ordered the\npapers. He rose at 2 A.M. seven days\nteachers to walk OUL He did this in\nOf Decentralization\na week, pushed a cart stacked with\nbundles of the city's half-dozen\nthe face of opposition voiced in many\n\"We wrote the decentralization\nmorning newspapers through a five-\nof the city's editorial pages. the Ford\nlaw,\" be said.\nmile area of Queens, then returned at\nFoundation and the prestigious Pub-\nWith turnouts tn school board elec-\n10 A.M. to deliver the afternoon\nLic Education Association.\ntions as low as 6 and 7 percent, the\nnewspapers. The young Mr. Shanker\nThe strikes did not end undl the\nunion's endorsements proved pivotal\nhardly ever saw him and knew him.\nState Education Commissioner,\nand it became evident in a few years\nbe ance said, as \"this angry, disgrun-\nJames Allen Jr., suspended the\nthar the strongest force in decentral-\ntied guy who grabbed a rull and\nOcean Hill board and appointed a\nization was the United Federation\ncoffee and went out to work again.\"\nMore\n2\n22-Apr-99\n01:21pm\nFrom-\nT-457\nP.08/08\nF-517\nHis mother, Mamie, was a sewing\nmachine operator and a member of\nSidney Hillman's Amalgamated\nClothing Workers. So grueling was\nFocusing Efforts\nher work that Mr. Shanker once vis\nOn the National Scene\nited her factory and could not recog.\nnize her as she sat bent in sweary\nAfter the upheaval of the 1968\nconcentration at her machine.\nstrike, be began turning his attention\nIf both parents bequeathed a sym-\nto the national labor scene, and in\npathy for workers, it was his thrifty\n1974, in an action that fractured their\nmother who taught him how to nego-\nfriendship, he succeeded Mr. Selden\nLiate \"I'd have to wait half an hour\nas president of the union's parent.\nwhile she bought three tomatoes,\" he\nthe American Federation of Teach-\nonce said\ners, but also retained leadership of\nThe family moved to the Ravens-\nthe U.F.T. for another 12 years.\nwood section of Queens and he re-\n\"When be moved to Washington,\nmembered his childhood as miser-\nbe became an education statesman\nable there. Many of his neighbors\nand began thinking about things that\nlistened on radio to the anti-Semitic\nneeded to change.\" said Diane Rav-\npreachings of Father Coughlin and\nItch, a former Assistant United\nthe younger ones sometimes took\nStates Secretary of Education. \"How\ntheir venom out on Mr. Shanker.\ndo kids learn best? What is the best\nway to organize a school? How do we\n\"At the age of 12. I was 6 foot 3 and\nmaintain standards?\"\n110 pounds.' he recalled. \"I was Jew-\nMs. Ravitch said he was a voice of\nish and living in an Irish Catholic\ncommon sense. \"This is a field con-\nneighborhood, so everybody took\nsumed with trends and fads and peo-\nturns beating up the biggest kid\"\nple get carried away with the newest\nAs a result, he mostly stayed in-\nthing.\" she said, \"and be never gets\ndoors. listening to radio or collecting\ncarried away.\"\nstamps. But at 14 he joined the Boy\nWith time, Mr. Shanker's confron-\nScouts. When the scoutmaster was\ntarional attitudes seemed to mellow.\ndrafted into the Army, the teen-age\n\"We got to the 1980's and we had\nMr. Shanker ran the troop on his own\ntoo much of an adversarial relation-\nand persuaded boys to join with the\nship,\" be said in a 1992 interview of\nsame zeal he would later employ to\nrelations berween unions and school\nenlist teachers into his union.\nboards. \"You don't get much done\nMr. Shanker attended Stuyvesant\nthrough conflict.\"\nHigh School and the University of\nMr. Shanker is survived by his\nIllinois. He started a doctoral pro-\nwife; four children. Carl. of Gaithers-\ngram in philosophy at Columbia Uni-\nburg. Md, Adam, of Mount Vernan,\nversity, but running out of money\nN.Y., Jennie, of Philadelphia, and MI-\nand patience, he took a year off in\nchael, of Tarrytown, N.Y., and a sis-\n1952 to teach at an elementary school\nter, Pearl Harris of Cleveland\nfor a salary of $38 a week He never\nfinished his doctorate.\nMoving to a junior high school in\nAstoria, he found he liked teaching\nintellectually gifted classes. But af-\nter a run-in with a principal over\nwhat Mr. Shanker felt was lax disci-\npline, he was assigned to the bottom\nclasses in the school.\nHis relief came in union activities.\nTeacher unions then were astonish-\ningly ineffective. There were 108 of\nthem. in part a result of bitter dtvi-\nsions over Communist loyalties and\nover pay differentials that rewarded\nhigh school teaching more than ele-\nmentary teaching.\nThe anti-Communist Teachers\nGuild was a weak group of 2,400\nmembers. Mr. Shanker edited Its\nnewspaper, which was then deliv-\nered in unmarked envelopes. an indi-\ncation of how suspicious authorities\nwere of leftist unions.\nAlong with colleagues like David\nSelden, he organized individual\nschools, visiting three out of every\nfour in the city. One person he signed\nup was Edith Gerber, a Queens\nteacher. who became his second wife\nin 1960 and who went on to head a\nmentoring program at the City Uni-\nversity of New York\nIn 1960, a merged body of teach-\ners' unions, the United Federation,\nwon the right to bargain for all teach-\ners. Mr. Shanker, then the union's\nsecretary, became its star. He had a\nknack for running meetings, letting\nopponents vent so much steam they\ninfuriated the majority, who would\nvote against them.\nIn 1964, while in his mid-30's, Mr.\nShanker was elected president.\nThree years later. he shocked New\nYorkers unaccustomed to strikes by\nwhite-collar professionals by leading\na teachers' walkout over issues of\ndisciplinary procedures. The action\nresulted in the first of two jailings.\n3\n22-Apr-99 01:18pm\nFrom-\nT-457 P.01\nF-517\nAMERICAN\nin 1611 KRSH MENT. 1.11.\nSANDRATELDMAN\nFEDERATION OF\nMASHINGTON DC 20001-2079\nPRESIDENT\n202-874-4400\nEDWARD\nTEACHERS AFLICIO\nSuck NEW\nNATTACOUR\nReceive\nNataska\n/\nFax Cover Sheet\nSchool we safety are locate trying info. TN M title about\nHere 7 The\nDATE: 4/22/99\n456 2239\nTO:\nOFFICE DE THE FIRST LADY FAX: 454 2878\nDIRECT: 20213936356\nFROM:\nCELIA HUNT LOSE\nPHONE: 202/879-4458\nAFT Public Affairs Department\nFAX: 202/879-4556\nRE:\nSCHOOL SAFETY STATISTICS ITALKING POINTS\nNumber of pages Including cover sheet: 5\nMessage:\n/ HOPE THESE ARE HELPFUL. PLEASE CALL\nIF you NEED ANYTHING ELSE.\nCtt2\n22-Apr-99 01:19pm\nFrom-\nT-457\nP.02\nF-517\ninternal use\nSCHOOL SAFETY\nMost schools are safer than the community at large. Students are more than twice as\nlikely to experience serious violent crime while out of school. (White House\nConference on School Safety). Shocking incidents such as this belie the fact that\nschools are safe havens for teaching and learning.\nLarge schools are more likely to report serious crimes. Less than one-tenth of small\nschools report serious violent crimes.\n(1998 report of the Educational Testing Service Policy Information Center)\n(Columbine has 1,800 students)\nThe number of guns on school campuses continues to drop. Schools have done a\ngood job of reducing the number of guns on campus. But ready access to firearms is\na pressing issue, as this incident makes tragically clear.\nViolent incidents rarely occur out of the blue -- it is critically important to respond to\nwarning signs. Involve counselors and family members. Various measures can\nprevent low-level incidents from escalating into violence.\nAlthough the vast majority of schools never experience serious incidents of violence,\nevery school must actively foster a safe and orderly climate for learning. Students in\nsmall schools are less likely to get lost in the shuffle; alternative placements provide a\nplace for violent and disruptive students to get the help they need without disrupting\nfellow students' education. Clear policies about expected behavior and consequences\nfor misbehavior. Active enforcement of these policies.\nZero Tolerance Policies. There is evidence that ZT policies succeed in making\nschools safer and more orderly, Since the passage of the statewide Safe Schools Act\n(which contains ZT policy), Texas has seen a sharp decline in the number of violent\nand disruptive incidents on school campuses.\nInvolve every member of the school community in creating a safe climate. Students\nshould have a way to report their knowledge or suspicions of violent behavior. All\nschool staff should be trained in school safety techniques.\nSchools are doing what they can to make sure students are safe. But they are only\none part of the solution. Young people are bombarded with violent images passed off\nas entertainment. Many of them experience violence in their homes. Problems of this\nenormity require a societal response. Schools will continue to do their part, but\ncannot do it alone.\nClassrooms\nHeld Hostage\nRestoring Order in Our Schools\nAmerican Federation of Teachers\nPresident Albert Shanker's\nAddress to the 1995\nAFT Conference on Discipline and Safety\nS.0\nAmin\nClinton Presidential Records\nDigital Records Marker\nThis is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative\nmarker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.\nThis marker identifies the place of a publication.\nPublications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose\nof digitization. To see the full publication please search online or\nvisit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.\nof\nTime\nhttp://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/22shank.15\nAl's the best,\" gushes Bella Rosenberg, Shanker's longtime assistant. \"He's a\nphenomenon of the 20th century!\"\nShanker's life story is the stuff of fiction. He was born on Manhattan's Lower East Side on\nSept. 14, 1928. His parents, Yiddish-speaking immigrants from czarist Russia, worked\nhard to make ends meet. When Shanker was a boy, the family moved across the East\nRiver to Long Island City, where his father, who had studied to become a rabbi, was a\nnewspaper deliveryman and his mother was a sewing-machine operator (and,\nsignificantly, a member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers union).\nShanker and his sister were frequently reminded of how bad things were back in the \"old\ncountry,\" yet life in the United States was no picnic. His father would begin his day at 2 in\nthe morning. ``It was a typical immigrant's job in those days,\" Shanker recalls. ``It was\nreally hard and dirty. The newspapers would be dropped off outside our apartment 365\ndays a year. Bundles and bundles of papers.\" His father would use a pushcart to deliver\nthe newspapers to houses and apartments on his route--an area about three-quarters of a\nmile wide and a mile long. \"He'd get back at 7 in the morning, totally exhausted. And\nthen he'd have some coffee and some breakfast. Then, at 10 o'clock, the afternoon papers\nwould come out, and he'd start all over.\"\nShanker's mother sometimes worked 70 hours a week, under hellish conditions. \"The\nshops were unsafe,\" he says. \"The windows and doors were locked because they were\nafraid the workers would take a shirt or pair of pants or throw them out the window to a\nfriend. There were no benefits. But because of the union, the workers eventually got a\n40-hour week, and they got some health benefits, and they got some sort of pension plan,\nand there were some safety regulations.\"\nGrowing up in a pro-union household, where Franklin D. Roosevelt was considered an\nabsolute god,\" Shanker developed an early interest in politics and social justice. He also\nlearned the hard way about prejudice. The Shankers had the misfortune of being the only\nJewish family in a neighborhood made up primarily of working-class Irish and Italian\nfamilies. When I'd walk through the neighborhood on Sundays in the summer,\" Shanker\nrecalls, ``all the windows would be open, and I'd hear Father Coughlin\"--the popular and\ncontroversial Roman Catholic priest and radio broadcaster-- with his anti-Semitic\nmessages coming through.\" Sometimes, children in the neighborhood would call young\nShanker \"Christ killer,\" and once a group of kids even tied a rope around his neck in a\nhanging attempt.\nAs a boy, Shanker was tall for his age; by the time he was 12, he had already reached his\nadult height of 6 feet 3 inches. Yet, he was physically awkward and did not excel at\nschool sports. He did, however, excel in academics, and after attending elementary\nschools in Queens, he was accepted to Stuyvesant High School, considered one of New\nYork City's top public institutions. He graduated in 1946, ranking 125 out of a class of\n625. Shanker applied to Harvard but was rejected (``It was a great disappointment,\" he\nhas said).\nSo instead, he went to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where he had a\ncousin in the area. The year was 1946, and the university was overcrowded with GIs,\ncreating a housing shortage. That alone would have made it difficult for Shanker to find a\nplace to live, but he had to deal with another problem: anti-Semitism. \"At the university\nhousing bureau,\" he says, ``some ads would say, `No Jews Wanted,' or `No Jews or\nNegroes Wanted,' or White Anglo Saxon Protestants Only.\" When he finally found a\nplace to live, about eight miles out of town, he used a bicycle for transportation.\nShanker was surprised by the open racism he encountered in Champaign- Urbana.\n`Blacks could not sit in the orchestra sections of the theaters, and no restaurant that\nserved whites would serve blacks,\" he recalls. \"So I became a member of an interracial\ncommittee at the local Unitarian Church, and we used to have sit-ins. Finally, we got a\nhold of an old civil-rights law that was passed right after the Civil War, and we went to\ncourt and got these places to open up.\"\nEarning a bachelor's degree in philosophy, Shanker graduated with honors in 1949 and\nreturned to New York, where he enrolled at Columbia University with the intention of\nacquiring a doctorate in philosophy. He completed all his courses but never submitted a\ndissertation. \"I was one of the promising philosophy students,\" he says. ``I was very, very\ngood at it. But basically, I ran out of money and patience.\"\nIn 1952, Shanker decided to take advantage of a post-war shortage of teachers and take\nthe substitute teachers' examination, `which, in those days, was fairly difficult,\" he\nof\n11\n4/22/99 11:21 AM\nnker Stands Test of Time\nhttp://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/22shank.h15\nrecalls. He passed the exam and was assigned to teach 6th grade at an elementary school\non Manhattan's Upper West Side. Upon his arrival, Shanker found out that he was the\nfourth teacher that year to take on this particular group of students. ``It was very, very\ntough,\" he says. \"There were some students there from West End Avenue, which had\nfairly well-to-do people, but there was also this daily influx of Puerto Ricans. So about a\nthird of my kids did not speak English.\"\nIt's clear that the seeds of Shanker's lifelong quest to elevate the professional status of\nteachers were planted during those first few months in the classroom. \"One of the stories\nthat I tell often,\" he says, ``is about the word professional,' and why I decided to become\npart of the union, apart from my family background. And why the word professional'\nused to turn me off.\n\"I'd been teaching for about a week and a half, and I had just terrible problems with\nclassroom control. And so one day, the door opened, and there was the assistant principal.\nAnd he stood there with his arms stretched out and pointing. I didn't know what he meant.\nAnd I was sort of beckoning him to come on in because I really wanted to talk to him. I\nneeded help on how to prevent these kids from cursing and shrieking. When I would turn\naround and write things on the blackboard, they would throw things. But he just stood\nthere pointing and then finally said, `Mr. Shanker. There is a lot of paper on the floor.\nThat's very unprofessional.' Then he closed the door and walked away.\"\nAs one of two male teachers at the school, Shanker was asked to share ``snow patrol\"\nduties; whenever it snowed, he and the other teacher had to walk around the school\nduring their lunch break making sure the kids didn't get into snowball fights. The previous\nyear, however, the other teacher had done the job all by himself. So, at a staff meeting,\nthe teacher raised his hand to ask the principal a question. Shanker vividly recalls what\nhappened next: ``He said, 'Now that there are two men on the faculty to handle snow\npatrol, would it be OK to rotate--you know, the first day of snow he goes, and the next\nday I go?' The principal frowned at him and replied, 'That's very unprofessional.\" Some\n40 years later, Shanker still laughs at the absurdity of the principal's comment. \"So I got\nto see that the word professional' meant to be obedient, don't rock the boat. The very\nopposite of a professional.\"\nListening to Shanker, you begin to realize just how far teaching has come since those\npost-war `Blackboard Jungle\" days.\n\"Some teachers would be assigned to be 'floaters' in a school and had to teach in a\ndifferent classroom each hour,\" he recalls. ``A few teachers were always given the most\nviolent classes, while other teachers were out of the classroom most of the time on\n`administrative assignments.' Some teachers got their pay docked if they were a few\nminutes late because of a traffic jam, but others could come late as often as they wanted\nbecause they had friends in high places. Some teachers were always assigned to teach the\nsubject they were licensed in and were given the same grade each period so they would\nhave the fewest possible preparations. Others almost always taught several different\ngrades, often out of the fields in which they were licensed.\" Even worse, when teachers\ntook sick leave, they had to bring in a note from their doctor.\nShanker's mother, who had seen her own working conditions change dramatically thanks\nto the union, was particularly appalled by the fact that elementary teachers in New York\ndid not have a duty-free lunch period; unlike junior high and high school teachers, they\nwere required to supervise their students throughout the 35-hour school week. \"Even in\nthe sweatshop, we have time for lunch,\" she told her son. \"You teachers are supposed to\nbe so smart, but you're dumb not to have a union.\"\n`Gospel of Teacher Unity'\nNo doubt Shanker would have given up teaching entirely if he hadn't discovered his life's\ncalling: union organizing. He joined Local 2 of the New York Teachers Guild, which had\nbeen founded in 1917 with John Dewey as its charter member. An affiliate of the\nAmerican Federation of Teachers, the guild was just one of 106 teacher organizations in\nNew York City, and only about 5 percent of the school system's 50,000 teachers belonged\nto it. Moreover, the guild was the only organization that supported collective bargaining\nfor teachers, a radical idea in those days.\n``Members of the other groups said, 'That's a trade union thing,\" Shanker recalls. ``If you\nget collective bargaining, you'll be just like the miners union--they're going to shoot you.\nOr you'll be crooked, like the Teamsters union.' And we said, 'Look, you have 106\ndifferent groups fighting each other. The teachers ought to vote for one organization to\nM\nof 11\n4/22/99 11:21 AM\nStands Test of Time\nhttp://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/22shank.h15.\nthe classic George Meany mold.\" (Meany was the longtime head of the powerful afl-cio.)\nThat same year, when Shanker was elected a vice president of the afl-cio's executive\ncouncil (a post he holds to this day), liberal Democrats all but gave up on him. \"Once a\nboat-rocker as a young Socialist rebel,\" A.H. Raskin wrote in The New York Times,\n\"Shanker has moved steadily rightward inside organized labor until he now ranks among\nthe most orthodox of union establishmentarians, a highly articulate defender of almost\neverything George Meany does.\" (Shanker and Meany, both ardent anti-Communists, had\nsupported the Vietnam War.) Some observers speculated that Shanker would eventually\ntake over Meany's job.\nInstead, Shanker, in 1974, was elected president of the AFT (although he kept his job as\npresident of the uft until 1986). The position, combined with his weekly column, gave\nhim national prominence, allowing him the opportunity to influence the education agenda\nfor the entire nation. He continued to press for collective bargaining, but school boards, as\nShanker said at the time, ``were no longer soft on unions.\" It was becoming more and\nmore difficult for teachers' unions to gain concessions. Shanker saw the writing on the\nwall; he slowly began moving the AFT in a different direction, until, by the mid 1980s,\nthe union became strongly identified with school reform and teacher professionalism.\nIronically, the nea, which had once rejected the idea of collective bargaining for teachers,\nhad become the more militant of the two unions. Now, it was the AFT that was acting\nmore like a professional association ( in the best sense) by proposing educational\nreforms,\" wrote Timothy Noah in The New Republic, `and the nea that was intent upon\nprotecting its constituency from criticismor scrutiny.\"\nMeanwhile, Shanker's image underwent a remarkable transformation: The fiery union\nboss had become a respected advocate of innovative school reform. In speech after\nspeech, he outlined proposals that he believed would finally turn teaching into a true\nprofession, including a national test for teachers, career ladders, merit pay, and, yes,\nradical restructuring\" of schools.\nSometimes, it was hard to believe what was coming out of the union leader's mouth. In a\nnow-famous speech he gave in 1985, which he called \"The Making of a Profession,\"\nShanker urged teachers to embrace these new ideas if they wanted to enhance their status.\nCollective bargaining has been a good mechanism, and we should continue to use it,\" he\nsaid. \"But now, we must ask whether collective bargaining will get us where we want to\ngo.\" The New York Times ran the story on page one, under the headline, ``Shanker\nUrging Shift in Strategy To Aid Teachers.\"\nSuddenly, Shanker was winning praise from politicians and policymakers of all stripes,\nincluding conservatives who had probably never before said a kind word about a union\nleader. In 1989, Chester E. Finn Jr., who had served as an assistant secretary of education\nunder President Reagan, called Shanker ``one of the authentically insightful and\nimaginative figures in American education.\" But he also argued that while Shanker was\ntaking the high road, \"the AFT locals are simultaneously going on strike, battling\nreforms, and defending the status quo as if everything were hunky- dory.\"\nOthers accused Shanker of jumping on the school-reform bandwagon out of sheer\nopportunism. Mary Hatwood Futrell, who at the time was the president of the National\nEducation Association, told The Wall Street Journal that among `the people who are in\nschools,\" Shanker was viewed as \"being so far out on a limb that he can't come back.\nThey view him basically as trying to get headlines. He'll say or do anything if that's what\nit takes.\"\nNevertheless, many of Shanker's ideas took hold, particularly the concept of national\ncertification for teachers, which is now being carried out by the private, nonprofit\nNational Board for Professional Teaching Standards. But in recent years, the union leader\nseemed to have become dissatisfied with the results of the school-reform movement. He\nwas especially troubled by the trend toward privatization, which he believed would\ndismantle public education. In speeches, Shanker had stopped talking about radical\nrestructuring and had begun talking about restoring the academic mission of schools.\n`That has to be the primary thing,\" he said in 1994. \"Other things have to be secondary,\nwhich they're not.\"\nThe clincher for his change of direction, Shanker says, was the 1994 Public Agenda\nreport, \"First Things First.\" The study found that the public wants ``safety, order, and the\nbasics\" and is uncomfortable with many school reforms. 'We think the public's right\nabout what our schools need,\" Shanker says, `and we think they should get what they\n9 of 11\n4/22/99 11:21 AM\n4/97 -- TM: Remembering Al Shanker\nhttp://www.edweek.org/htbin/tastwe..OR%26%28shanker%26and%2626199729\nApril 1997\nEDUCATION WEEK on the WEB\nEDUCATION WEEK\nIN CONTEXT\nTHE ARCHIVES\nTEACHER MAGAZINE\nTHE DAILY NEWS\nSPECIAL REPORT\nEDUCATION\nTEACHER MAGAZINE:\nRemembering Al Shanker\nBy Adam Urbanski\nCommentary\n\"E.F. Hutton,\" I thought to myself; when Al\nShanker talks, everyone listens. I sat among\nA friend and\nRead the news\nseveral thousand others listening intently to\ncolleague recalls\nstories about Al\nShanker's keynote address. The normally noisy\nanother side of\nShanker's death in\nthis issue: \"End Of\nhall was now quiet. Unlike before and after his\nspeech, no one was leaving the room, no one was\nthe tough union\nAn Era At The\nAFT\" and \"Albert\nwhispering.\npresident.\nShanker,\n1928-1997.\"\nI was a new delegate to the American Federation of Teachers annual\nconvention, but I already knew our president's reputation. This was a tough\nleader who always had a plan and a way to make it a reality. He stood up\nfor what he believed--even if it meant going to jail. No wonder he\ncommanded such admiration and such undivided attention.\nSo at first, purely out of respect, I listened. Soon, I found myself leaning\nforward so as not to miss a single word. He made sense. He spoke to me,\nnot at me. And it didn't even seem like a speech; it was as if we were\nRead an Education\nhaving a conversation in a living room. No jargon, no worn-out\nWeek profile of Al\nShanker, \"Shanker\ncliches--just plain speaking, frequently peppered with asides prefaced with\nStands Test of\n\"and by the way...\"\nTime,\" Feb. 21,\n1996.\nHow refreshing--and how believable! He talked about what he knew and\nwhat he thought I might want to know. He was right.\nYears later, I was elected president of my local union. The day after my\nvictory, the telephone rang incessantly. \"Hello,\" I said, answering yet\nanother call.\n\"This is Al Shanker, Adam,\" the deep, rich voice at the other end\nannounced.\n\"Hi, how are you?\" is what I said. But what I thought was, \"Oh, my God.\nShanker is calling me!\"\n\"I'm OK. I'm calling to congratulate you and to say that if there's anything I\ncan do to help... \"\n\"As a matter of fact,\" I blurted out, \"I would like to speak with you about\nsome ideas that I've been considering.\"\n\"All right, come down and we'll talk.\"\nI agreed and wondered what it would be like to finally meet Al Shanker\nand speak with him face to face.\nThe day finally came, and Shanker waved me into his United Federation\nof Teachers office in New York City. (He was then president of both the\nAFT and the UFT.) \"Come in, we're just tasting a new wine I discovered.\nNot expensive, but very, very good. Will you try it?\"\n1 of 4\n4/22/99 11:18 AM\n4/97 -- TM: Remembering Al Shanker\nhttp://www.edweek.org/htbin/tastwe..OR%269%28shanker426and%26%261997629\n\"Sure. But just a little.\"\n\"All right. Here. Do you like it?\"\n\"It's very nice.\"\n\"Do you want a case?\"\n\"No, but thank you for offering. I really don't know that much about\nwines.\"\n\"You don't? Well, then, you'll have to learn, especially the reds. Or else\nwhat will we have to talk about?\"\n\"Actually, there are some things I'd like to discuss with you.\"\n\"I know. We will. But the thing about wines, you see, is that they don't\nhave to be expensive to be good. And by the way, this Amarone goes great\nwith some chocolate biscotti I make. I always put a little hot pepper in\nthem, and the taste lingers on your tongue.\"\nDuring lunch that day, I yielded to Shanker when it came to selecting the\nwine. I secretly jotted down his choice.\nJotting down Shanker's choices of wine became a new habit for\nme--though I was by then already accustomed to jotting down his poignant\nwords about education. Like so many others, I stole from him liberally and\nshamelessly. His metaphors and anecdotes are legendary.\nShanker's talent as a wordsmith was astonishing, inevitably leaving an\nindelible impression on the listener. And his common sense was truly\nuncommon. Always impeccably logical, he was also a lateral thinker--a\nrelentless prober of possibilities. Sometimes he'd explore the question of\nhow we could make better or stronger that which we already had; and then\nhe would explore what else we could have that would be altogether\ndifferent.\nAn enigma to many, Al Shanker defied labels. He was both a progressive\nand a traditionalist. He refuted the phony choice between compensation\nand dedication (no reason why teachers shouldn't do well while doing\ngood); equity and excellence (the most insidious form of racism is to lower\nstandards for someone because of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status);\nand unionism and professionalism (the stronger our union, the more able\nwe are to build a genuine profession). And contrary to the popular\nperceptions of Shanker, he also found effective ways to promote unity\nwithout unanimity, rigor without rigidity, and authority without\nauthoritarianism.\n2 of 4\n4/22/99 11:18 AM\n4/97 -- TM: Remembering Al Shanker\nhttp://www.edweek.org/htbin/fastwe.OR%26%28shanker%26and%269%261997%29\nShanker's fervor for strengthening public\nShanker had an\neducation in America was matched only by his\nirrepressible\npassion for promoting democracy at home and\nvision for\nabroad. He steadfastly believed that communist\nteachers, for their\nregimes would crumble--even when I and so\nmany others could not yet envision it. His\nunions, and for\nunswerving support of free-trade unionism and\nour public\ndemocratic impulses throughout the world made\nschools.\nan important difference. He was a champion for\nfreedom and human rights.\nUFT President Sandra Feldman and I accompanied him on one of his\nfrequent trips to Eastern Europe before the fall of communism, nearly a\ndecade ago. After meetings with some of the heroic human rights activists\nfrom Czechoslovakia's Charter 77 movement, we took some time for\nsightseeing. It was a glorious, sunny day in Prague, and Al managed to\nlocate just about every bookstore and record shop in the city. I helped carry\nall the precious \"finds.\"\n\"I thought we came here to fight communism, not to shop,\" I murmured.\n\"You see these two as different activities?\" he asked rhetorically. \"And by\nthe way, if you do shopping right, communism will fall.\"\nShanker's endearing wit and sense of humor were as quick and evident as\nhis capacity for tenderness and affection. During that same excursion, we\nattended an international conference on human rights in Poland in my\nformer hometown, Nowa Huta, near Krakow. This was my first trip to\nPoland since my family escaped in 1957, and I was somewhat\napprehensive about my safety. Indeed, I was briefly detained, searched,\nand interrogated by Polish soldiers upon arrival at the Warsaw airport.\nKnowing this, Al checked on me each evening at our hotel before settling\nin for the night.\n\"Why are you acting like a doting father?\" I asked him jokingly.\n\"Because I promised your mother,\" he said with a wink. If he had not\nalready earned my immense respect and affection, he would have gained it\nthen and there. And it didn't matter that he'd never met my mother or\nspoken with her. I've always wished that every teacher would have had the\nchance to meet and know him as he truly was: both steel and velvet. Al\nShanker was not only the voice of teachers; he gave voice to teachers. He\ninspired them to aspire to more. He triggered among them a revolution of\nrising expectations, a continuing quest that will be his legacy.\nShanker had an irrepressible vision for teachers, for their unions, and for\nour public schools. That vision will become a reality because of the\nfoundation he established and the leadership he modeled. He projected\nstrength but also made others strong; he spoke to the task no less than to\nthe heart; and he knew the bottom line, while he also saw the horizon.\nThe strong teachers' unions that Shanker helped build will continue to\nstrive for a more genuine teaching profession and more effective schools\nfor all our students. We won't forget his most recent admonition that \"it is\nno less the responsibility of a teachers' union to help preserve public\neducation than to negotiate contracts.\" (Yes, I jotted that down.) We will\ndo this by promoting higher standards for ourselves and for our students.\n3 of 4\n4/22/99 11:18 AM\n4/97 -- TM: Remembering Al Shanker\nhttp://www.edweek.org/htbin/fastwe..OR%26%28shanker426and%269826199729\nWe learned this from a wise teacher.\nAnd by the way\nAdam Urbanski is a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers\nand president of its Rochester, New York, affiliate.\nSUBSCRIBE\nABOUT THIS SITE\nFEEDBACK\nSEARCH THE SITE\nJOBS\nHOME\n© 1997 Editorial Projects in Education\n4 of 4\n4/22/99 11:18 AM\nAMERICAN\nEducator\nThe Power\nof Ideas\n<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<\nsevese\nAl in His Own Words\nA Collection\nSpecial Issue: Spring/Summer 1997\nAmerican Federation of Teachers\nClinton Presidential Records\nDigital Records Marker\nThis is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative\nmarker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.\nThis marker identifies the place of a publication.\nPublications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose\nof digitization. To see the full publication please search online or\nvisit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room."
}