Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Teacher Unions and their Death Grip

John Stossel has a brief but clear explanation of one of the many ways that teacher unions fail our kids by protecting the interests of mediocre teachers. On the same page there is a link to several other articles he’s been writing on the subject of public education and teacher’s unions. I hope all of this will result in a 20/20 special broadcast that will get some wider appeal. I find this to be one of the most difficult subjects to bridge with otherwise sensible people.

Discussions - 9 Comments

There was a special. It was called "Stupid in America" and it aired on January 13th. It was well-received by all non-teachers. But we’ll repeat it if you missed it.

best...TV special...EVER

John--I guess I did miss it. But I do hope it airs again!

My husband & I watched the special. As parents to a 6 month old daughter, we were already considering what educational options we want for her. This special highlighted many issues we were not even aware of, and we are very seriously discussing and planning to research alternatives to mainstream public school.

It seemed to me that many teachers and school administrators blamed the "No Child Left Behind" Act as an excuse for passing along students who were failing, rather than as a motivation to provide better education. It was pitiful.

I’d like to meet the teacher who works a 6 hour and 50 minute day. All of the teachers I know work well beyond their contracted hours (even the mediocre ones). One 45-minute planning period (standard in most schools) is not enough time for grading and thoughtful lesson planning. If you know a teacher, you already know this and have probably been recuited to grade papers at some point too. Without the union’s protection, the school day will inevitably be lengthened and then lengthened some more when students still don’t increase their performance on high-stakes test. I don’t agree with everything the union stands for, but I think it’s insane that there are teacher’s cars in the school parking lot from 6:45 am until 8 pm. Give me a break!

Did you get those talking points from the AFT or the NEA, Anne? A great american once said, "no one has the right to strike against the public good at any time in any place." Even if they were not destroying education in America, that principle alone would be reason enough to break up both these cartels.

Hey, Anne, are you Gabe Kotter’s wife? How are the Sweathogs doing?

Great job on catching that reference, Hal!

Nah, her name was Julie. She was pretty hot, though. I always wondered how Gabe managed to get a babe like her on his measly teacher’s salary. She must’ve really liked those lame jokes about his family that he always told.

Hey, Julie’s still a babe! Check this out!

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