The American Federation of Teachers recently endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president (http://www.aft.org/presscenter/releases/2007/100307.htm). My reaction: who cares? Public education, I would point out, is something that should be a state matter. I guess that's kind of a quaint notion in this day of a federal department of education, NCLB and the like.
Regardless, establishment educators (I reserve these remarks for those actively involved in the union, because I'm sure there are some teachers and administrators who do not fit this characterization) these days still don't have students' and parents' best interests at heart, while at the same time essentially showing an utter lack of confidence in their own ability. If they, and the educational bureaucracy within which they exist in this country were, in fact, so confident, and really cared about the quality of public education, why would they stand in the way of allowing parents to choose where to send their kids' to school using the taxes they pay to support public education??
It's interesting on their website that they have pages for "Academic Freedom" and "Employee Free Choice Act". Yet, every time the issue of allowing parents of modest-to-low means the freedom to use at least a part of what they pay to support public education (I support public education, just not government schools), groups like this and the NEA vociferously oppose it. What are they so worried about?? There will always, always be demand for good teachers. I can only believe it is the paranoid and slackers amongst them who drive this opposition.
Too bad a dollar figure can't be applied to public education quality (results) in much the same way as they can be toward the U.S.-owned automobile industry. Hopefully, though, people will start to wonder why, as funding for government schools continues to increase unabated, the number of students being home/private schooled continues along the same trajectory. "Why is the rate of growth of funding increasing faster than the rate of growth in the public student body," they might ask.
Maybe then, the number of school choice legislators will also grow.
2 comments:
Interesting take; while I'm a "conservative" blogger, I tend to take the stance that our teachers are pretty damn important. My mother taught high school for 10 years before she went on to teach English at the university level. But nevertheless, she's a Democrat and loves Hillary...
--http://twincitiesconservative.squarespace.com
By the way, you get my vote on RCP...good job.
--http://rightisright.squarespace.com
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