Teachers' unions

Children in this country who haven't already done so will be going back to school on Tuesday, where we will trust them to those most demonized and maligned of people, those villains we blame for every problem in American society, America's school teachers.  Well, perhaps we don't despise all teachers; the Catholic schools have those nice nuns who take vows of poverty and chastity.  But the public school teachers in Wisconsin, the ones who think they're somehow entitled to raise families or to even buy houses (and perhaps on a single single income, no less!) have been called every vile name in the press recently, from nazi to terrorist to thug and other names too ugly to write out, all because they have peacefully demonstrated for the right to keep the labor unions they're had for over half a century.  People accuse teachers of not caring about children and caring only about their paychecks.  These accusations come from people who have never taught and would never want to teach, yet imagine they know what teachers think.

I don't belong to a teachers' union, and I understand why some teachers feel frustrated with their unions.  What I don't understand is why some  people believe that teachers' unions are bad.  Yes, they support the Democratic Party, which certain hate radio blowhards might not like, but there are also plenty of business groups that support the Republican Party.  Why don't the teacher-bashers object to that?  Can't we agree that in a free country, voters should have a choice between two (or more) political parties?  Teachers' unions are not anybody's enemy, especially not children.  

What other large membership organization represents the interests of children or the people who work with them on a regular basis?  The National Council for Teachers of English, or the  National Council for Teachers of Mathematics?  Not the American Academy of Pediatricians.  They are a small group, compared to teachers, and their members don't normally spend more than fifteen minutes per year with any given child.  The American Library Association has a subgroup for children's service, and that doesn't have as many members, either.  Is there a parents' union or a children's union that the teachers' unions are always fighting against?  Of course not.  It's the teachers who work with our children for hours every week and put in extra unpaid hours evenings and weekends on their behalf, who know their strengths and weaknesses, their fears, their dreams, their struggles, who work to help them achieve success and fulfill their potential.

This is not an easy time to be a teacher.  These people do a job most people wouldn't wish to do, often undoing the damage of incompetent parents and heartless politicians.  So before you say something negative about people who teach public school for a living, read this editorial and watch this video.