Union leaders counseled merger, mimicking their corporate counterparts, rather than creating real value by organizing around the common interests of teachers, students, and parents. They are for common curriculum driven by nationally standardized exams, peer discipline programs, grade retention, and high barriers around the profession to make sure only the most credentialed enter. What new unionism obscures is that there is a conflict of interest between those who gain from democracy and equality and those who benefit from low wages and authoritarianism. Inequitable societies do not want injustice investigated and one traditional method of disguising inequality is nationalism, which is the crux of new unionism and the standardized curriculum movement. Classroom teachers know standardized curricula explode the foundation of learning, that is, the meeting of a particular student with unique interests, a special teacher with certain passions and expertise, and the resources of a distinctive community in a loving classroom where risk is nurtured.
More regulated exams locate the thinking mind and source of truth in a test.
The teacher becomes an imperial clerk. New unionism promises power through solidarity. The solidarity offered, however, is not with the source of real educator power-unity with poor and working class parents and students who have everything to gain from school. She often won. Unfortunately both the NEA and the AFT have abandoned the vision that would link the activities of school workers with students and parents.