Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, joined Jen to talk about her new book, “Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy,” the importance of education, and especially civics education, when facing an authoritarian regime. “It’s the fascistic behavior that we’re looking at, and it’s what teachers are the antidote to,” Randi told Jen.
Noting the cancellation of comedian Jimmy Kimmel, the threat to free speech, and a promised new curriculum from the Department of Education, Randi said, “I want people to use my book, to think about all the craziness, the censorship, the basically erasing of history, and I want us to be clever and engaged and teacherish in terms of what we do.”
Randi Weingarten is president of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, which represents teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other healthcare professionals; local, state and federal government employees; and early childhood educators. Weingarten has launched major efforts to place real education reform high on the nation’s and her union’s agendas.
