The Politics of the Pta (Studies in Social Philisiphy and Policy, 4)

Rating:
Summary: The organization you thought you knew
Review: Former school teacher and senatorial candidate, and current President of the Education Policy Institute, Charlene Haar, relates a thorough and fascinating story of an organization we all thought we knew, but probably did not. Haar traces the origins of The National Congress of Parents and Teachers (PTA) to the first assemblage of the National Congress of Mothers at the end of the 19th century, a time when schooling, and the status of women, were strikingly different than they are now. She then follows the evolution of the organization as parents, and later teachers, and still later the teachers' unions, are added to the mix.

Haar demonstrates how the better organized and more powerful elements of the coalition - the teachers' unions - were able to steer the organization's mission over time along a path they preferred, as was, perhaps, inevitable. Haar reminds us, however, that teacher and parent interests do not always coincide and, indeed, seem to have grown more divergent over time. Ironically, however, the PTA's continuing steadfast support of the public education status quo has generated only meager success, for example, in terms of favorable legislation passed in the U.S. Congress, where the PTA has spent a substantial proportion of its resources in lobbying efforts. Meanwhile, parent membership in the PTA continues steadily to decline.

The Politics of the PTA is meticulously well-written and very well-organized.

Richard P. Phelps is the author of Kill the Messenger: The War on Standardized Testing

Rating:
Summary: Unique insight into oft-misunderstood interest group
Review: Haar's research is unrivaled. While the PTA name is commonly associated with the many hard-working local groups at US schools (even though more than 75% of those groups are no longer associated with the official PTA organization), Haar paints a tough picture of a central bureaucracy increasingly disconnected from its member groups. A must-read for anyone trying to get past the bake sale reputation of PTA and into the actual goings-on behind the scenes of this organization.