The pandemic has done at least one good thing: It has clearly demonstrated what power-hungry, radical, garbage organizations the teachers’ unions are. First, they refused to go back to the classroom for over a year in direct opposition to all science on COVID-19 in children. Then, one teachers’ union directly influenced the CDC on ridiculous guidelines for school reopenings. They also tried to keep you from seeing what they were teaching your child on Zoom. Now, they feel it is their right to demand that you vaccinate your child despite emerging risks.
It should have been clear last summer where the teachers’ unions were going to line up in the current curriculum debate raging in school board meetings across the nation. In August of 2020, several joined a coalition with the Democratic Socialists of America and other radical left-wing groups for a day of action to push for “safe, healthy, equitable” schools. Sounds nice enough until you realize the coalition was demanding to defund police in schools and the community, demanding an end to voucher programs, and promoting a wealth tax and other far-left policies.
Now, the largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), is in the midst of its annual meeting. Among the agenda items adopted, item two is absolutely on-brand for these arrogant ninnies. The NEA will allocate $56,500 to create an enemies list:
NEA will research the organizations attacking educators doing anti-racist work and/or use the research already done and put together a list of resources and recommendations for state affiliates, locals, and individual educators to utilize when they are attacked. The research, resources, and recommendations will be shared with members through NEA’s social media, an article in NEA Today, and a recorded virtual presentation/webinar.
Rationale/Background
The attacks on anti-racist teachers are increasing, coordinated by well-funded organizations such as the Heritage Foundation. We need to be better prepared to respond to these attacks so that our members can continue this important work.
First, the Heritage Foundation is not the organization showing up at local school board meetings or organizing parents. The participants in viral videos are local parents who saw the racial essentialism and radical gender ideology taught to their children when these lazy grifters decided not to go to work. The grassroots movements are rolling up under organizations such as Moms for Liberty and No Left Turn in Education. Parent group leaders at the local level are concerned parents, and neither organization mandates chapter activities. The umbrella organizations provide technical support, fundraising capabilities, and lawyers through several emerging organizations, including Schoolhouse Rights.
Next, these ignorant social justice warriors are gearing up to fight the people who pay their salaries. The absolute arrogance of their position that teacher preferences override parents’ decisions about their children’s education is galling. If it takes a village to raise a child, parents have the right to decide who that circle includes. This support network can function quite well without educators determined to teach children to hate one another, judge each other based on immutable characteristics, and be ashamed of their country’s history.
If the education establishment chooses to continue to ignore parents’ demands, they will be the architects of their own destruction. Parents who pay property taxes will start demanding their dollars follow their children to the educational institutions of their choice. And job security for the teachers’ union will evaporate.
As Freedom to Learn has pointed out, the education establishment, including the geniuses in the teachers’ unions, has led a charge to the bottom. In 2018, students in the United States fell to number 22 globally on reading, math, and science scores. Slovenia and Estonia are beating us like a drum, and China tops the list. The only “important work” teachers’ unions have is reversing this trend immediately so the country can return to the business of innovation. They should really concentrate on the three Rs instead of anti-racist psychobabble, rewriting American history, and “restorative justice.”
Source: PJ Media
