Gerald W. Bracey, who wrote a spirited defense of American education in last month’s Phi Delta Kappan, was forced to resign from the National Education Association last month, he said.
Mr. Bracey said the N.E.A. told him he could resign with two weeks’ pay or be fired.
He said a passage in the Kappan essay quoting Kurt Vonnegut’s referral to “the nigger work” that must be done by an uneducated social class had enraged minority N.E.A. staff members.
He said the passage was in the essay when he submitted it to the union in February as part of his application for the senior policy analyst’s post. N.E.A. officers approved the entire essay in August, he said.
Pat Orrange, the union’s director of human resources, would not comment on Mr. Bracey’s resignation. --J.W.
