I would be the last to say, as Carol suggests I do, that unions are the only problem in higher education. (In fact, in a “root problem” discussion, I’d hold that spiritual, moral, and philosophical breakdown is at the heart of, and precedes, rotten educational ideology and propaganda.)
But let me address Carol’s point that even charter schools can be afflicted by the same rotten ideology that affects unions.
Charter schools are in principle expressly intended to be liberated from the status quo’s stranglehold, but they have been successful only when founded and operated on sound traditional (not “progressive”) educational principles and when strong boards ensure they hew to these principles. When boards fail to do so–when they allow charter schools to head on down the path of rotten ideology–these schools fail.
But whence comes this rotten ideology that, yes, can infect charter schools? It comes straight out of rotten teacher-education programs run by people who work in tandem with the unions (and faculty senates) to resist K-12 reform.
The rot makes the rounds.