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

by Richard D. Kahlenberg

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231134967
• ISBN13: 9780231134965
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 552 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Great book.

Great book. If you're interested in the state of American schools, and if you're one of those people who blame everything on teachers' unions (or you're just surrounded by those people), you MUST read this book.

Lively Biography About an Influential Public Figure of Enduring Relevance to Our Times

I'm guessing most readers of this review who are under 40 years old or who live outside the greater New York city area have not heard of Albert Shanker, the subject of this lively biography by Richard Kahlenberg. That's unfortunate. Agree or disagree with his views, Shanker was an articulate, dynamic and controversial teachers' union founder and leader who was also an important and interesting opinion leader on issues such as national standards and charter schools which are very much a part of today's education policy debates. Kahlenberg's book tells his story, explaining as well how Shanker's politics--encompassing issues going well beyond education policy--represented a road not taken by liberalism in the United States, for the worse in Kahlenberg's view.

Honest Portrayal

Al was my mentor in the 1970's and this is an honest and true representation of the man I knew. There will never be another like him.

Made me appreciate Shanker even more!

Albert Shanker had always been one of my heroes . . . yet until I read TOUGH LIBERAL by Richard D. Kahlenberg, I had not known too much about him. That's no longer the case . . . in fact, this excellent biography even increased my appreciation of Shanker who once told an interviewer: * "If I didn't have to make a living, I would have done this as a volunteer." What he did was head the American Federation of Teachers for well over 20-25 years . . . by doing so, he helped change the perception of teachers by having them recognized as professionals: * A professional receives a liberal-arts education, then specialized training, and then must pass a rigorous exam before beginning to practice. She participates in an internship, is guided by mentors, and participates in reviewing the performance of colleagues. Once these professional responsibilities are met come the reciprocal set of rights: greater autonomy and higher compensation. In Shanker's vision, policies like a rigorous national test, peer review, and career ladders were not just defensive moves against critics of public-school teachers, they were prerequisites to the professionalization of teaching. TOUGH LIBERAL summarized Shanker's contributions to education in one of the finest concluding paragraphs that I've ever read: * In one lifespan, Albert Shanker helped to create the institution of collective bargaining for teachers, giving them greater dignity and voice in how they would be treated. He then used that power to engage in a series of critical education reforms that proved instrumental in improving and preserving the institution of public education. Both accomplishments served the larger goal he cherished above all others: strengthening American democracy. His failure to convince fellow liberals to extend their support of democracy more broadly--to racial policy, international affairs, and their views of the labor movement--leaves open the question: what might society look like if we tried? If you want to learn about Albert Shanker and the labor movement in this country, read this book . . . it will also make a great gift for any teacher.

More Than a Bio

In his film, Sleeper, Woody Allen immortalized Albert Shanker as the madman responsible for blowing up the world. That helped to get Shanker known outside of NY, but clearly it wasn't the real Shanker. In this highly readable and often exhilarating biography of Shanker, Richard Kahlenberg shows that while Shanker, the architect of the modern teacher union movement (and, it turns out, so much more) surely understood power and accumulated it, his only "madness" was to seek to empower the powerless and to hold this nation to the democratic ideals it espoused and he so cherished. Indeed, far from being "mad," Shanker was both intellectually and politically brilliant -- a rare combination -- an idealist with both a shrewd and compassionate understanding of human nature and a pragmatist who nonetheless stood firm on principles, a stance that sometimes incurred the enmity of allies as much as enemies. This was also a man who dealt with the high and mighty, but who in his writing and speaking could take the most complicated ideas and make them accessible to ordinary people without ever dumbing anything down. Had Kahlenberg just written a biography of this complex and far-ranging man, that probably would have been interesting enough. But Kahlenberg goes further and roots Shanker in the major political and cultural struggles over the soul of the Democratic party and the direction of this country. Regardless of one's view of those struggles and their outcomes, Kahlenberg's recounting of them cannot help but make you think of missed opportunities and "what ifs" to this day. Politics, race, education, the meaning and practice of democracy -- a heady and vitally critical brew. And Kahlenberg stirs and blends this pot well through Shanker, his meaty main ingredient.