Albert Shanker Institute-About Shanker

	"It's dangerous to let a lot of ideas out of the bag, some of which may be bad. But there's something that's more dangerous, and that's not having any new ideas at all at a time when the world is closing in on you." Speech to the AFT QuEST Conference, 1985

Albert Shanker, 1928-1997
Albert Shanker, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, was born on Manhattan's Lower East Side on Sept. 14, 1928. His father delivered newspapers from a pushcart. His mother, who worked in a sweatshop as a sewing machine operator, taught Al a deep appreciation of trade unionism and a love of spirited debate. Although he didn't speak a word of English when he entered first grade, Al flourished in New York City's public school system. He headed the Stuyvesant High School debating team, graduated with honors from the University of Illinois, and ran out of funds in the early 1950s, just short of completing a Ph.D. in philosophy at Columbia University. He found a "lousy job" as a per-diem substitute teacher at PS 179 in East Harlem and launched a career as an educator and trade union leader. As president of the American Federation of Teachers, he became known as a strong and courageous advocate for labor—as well as an "iconoclastic thinker," "champion of children," and "educational statesman."

The following essays, drawn from a special April 1997 issue of the AFT's American Teacher newspaper, offer insight into Al's long career as a crusader for worker rights, civil rights, civic society, quality public schools, and the life of the mind.

Always Setting the Standard
Collective Bargaining: Laying the Foundation
Fighting for Freedom Around the World
Bridging the Worlds of Labor and Civil Rights
Building a Broader Union
Adding Rooms to the House of Labor
Where We Stand: 800 Words of Weekly Wisdom
On the Hill: The Great Persuader
A Passion for Life
Keeping Public Education Together
Photo Gallery

The Power of Ideas: Al in His Own Words
Al Shanker was a man of many ideas. And we were the beneficiaries of those ideas. From New York City to Corpus Christi, Texas; from South Beach, Florida, to South Central, Los Angeles; from San Francisco and Chicago to Santiago and Prague; to small groups in out-of-the-way hotels and to large audiences in the corridors of power, Al was always there, talking to teachers and other school staff, to administrators, to parents, to businessmen, to academics, to legislators, to governors, to presidents. Brilliant, provocative, persuasive, funny, and never, ever afraid to tell the truth as he saw it, he stirred countless audiences, rallied the troops, won over many foes, and left a trail of debate opponents wishing they had accepted a different engagement for the evening.

This special 1997 edition of the AFT's American Educator magazine attempts to capture some of Al's most important ideas—the ones that inspired his public life, the ones he lived by, the ones that left the most enduring mark.

Requires Adobe Acrobat.

Introduction: He Believed in the Power of Ideas
Building the Union
Building the Profession
Civil and Human Rights
Strengthening and Preserving Public Education

Also on the Internet
A number of other Web sites contain materials on Albert Shanker.

'Where We Stand' Archives Online
The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) has posted a free electronic archive of more than 1,300 "Where We Stand" columns by the late AFT president Albert Shanker. For 27 years Shanker's column in the New York Times offered 800 words of common sense, keen analysis and no-nonsense ideas about how to improve schools. The archive, produced with support from the Albert Shanker Institute, is comprehensive and completely searchable.

Remembering Al Shanker
Five years after his death, this moving tribute, written by Century Foundation scholar and Shanker biographer Richard Kahlenberg, bemoans the loss of Al's "democratic vision" and "tough liberalism" in the shaping of public policy.

The AFT Web site also contains several articles, speeches, and other documents by and about Shanker. Links to several articles and editorials by Al are also being maintained on other sites, including "Why Schools Need Standards and Innovation," "The Importance of Civic Education," and "A Proposal for Using Incentives to Restructure Our Public Schools."

Articles about Shanker include a February 1996 profile, "The Education of Al Shanker," in Teacher Magazine; President Clinton's remarks at Shanker's memorial service; a brief biography and chronology on the Web site of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City local Shanker helped to found; a profile in the PBS series, "School: The Story of American Public Education"; several articles in Education Week that appeared shortly after Al's death, including "The End of an Era," "A Speech that Shook the Field," and "Al Shanker Remembered;" an article in that newspaper's retrospective of the 20th century, titled "The Paradoxical Teacher;" and a tribute article, "Albert Shanker’s Legacy," by Richard Kahlenberg.