Education Reaction: They Really Do These Things

We’ve noted here before some strong reporting on K-12 follies by the Education Action Group. A recent newsletter from the group was different, sadly, by the volume of news and developments across the country that reinforce the concept that far too many people still put the adults ahead of the students.

Consider the following:

  • A student in Danville, Illinois who made online comments about contract negotiations between the school district and teachers union was reportedly harassed by a teacher
  • In Franklin, New Jersey teachers seeking a larger pay raise picketed outside of the home of the school board president. The volunteer leader was not home, but his daughter was there to witness some of her own teachers "attacking" her father.
  • National Education Association membership is declining as several states have freed teachers from compulsory union membership. While union leaders have verbally (and beyond) assaulted state and local officials for cutting aid and seeking union concessions during difficult economic times, the NEA is now cutting employees and asking its affiliates to do with less.
  • Meaningful education reforms in Washington state were stopped in their tracks by Democratic lawmakers. The reaction from one major Democrat fundraiser:  “It is impossible to escape the painful reality that we Democrats are now on the wrong side of every important education-reform issue. Today, the (teachers union) is literally strangling our public schools to death with an almost infinite number of institutionalized rules that limit change, innovation and excellence." Seattle Times columnist Lynne Varner adds, “People are starting to see the light about the Democrats’ intransigence.” Refusing to stand up to the special interest teacher unions could be “a matter of political life or death” for the Dems, she adds.  
      

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