Writing at American Greatness, Larry Sand chronicles "mounting resistance" to teachers unions. It's about time, too.
When the DrsC were students in public K-12 too many decades ago, the schools did a good job for most students, certainly for both of us.
The failure of public education began as teachers unions began to become politically powerful. As their strength grew, public education withered.
Now teachers unions are a major political force in the US and perhaps the Democrat party's strongest backer. Meanwhile public education has, in many jurisdictions, failed to a great extent. Students can't read at grade level, can't do simple arithmetic, and would have no idea how to write a cogent paragraph.
Teacher training programs at colleges and universities now draw their majors from the lowest quartile of the student body. K-12 teaching has become the major students choose when they can't cut it in other programs. It wasn't always so, but it is now.
Pupils were better off when teachers unions either didn't exist or lacked power. Perhaps we should rethink collective bargaining for government employees in general, and teachers in particular.
The protection unions provide teachers is almost always redundant. Unions end up defending the jobs of mediocre teachers who would be better suited to other employment.
If teacher unions disappeared, kids would benefit.
