By now, though, most of those studies are almost a decade old. Ms. Johnson's 1984 book, Teacher Unions in Schools , is one of the most frequently cited works on teachers' unions. It highlights the variation in the ways individual schools in a district implement their teaching contracts. Christine E. Murray, an assistant professor at the State University of New York College at Brockport, is writing a book on the emerging new roles of teachers in four districts, including Rochester. Except for those few who are union activists, the union does not figure largely in teachers' thinking about their work.
Unions are too centralized.
So are districts. They're accused of being bureaucratic, and so are districts. Some scholars believe that when it comes to unions, policymakers have boxed themselves in by emulating industrial unionism. Many state laws governing teachers' unions were written to reflect a 1930s conception of work, with a sharp delineation of duties. But the pressure on schools to improve has called this factory-style organization into question.