Hello Michelle,
I wanted to share some of my own thoughts and frustrations with being a teacher in public education. Unfortunately, I am unable to do this openly for fear of reprisal from the very union that is supposedly in place to protect me.
Let me begin by saying that there are a lot of good teachers in my district and throughout the country whose top priority is the education of students. Sadly from my own experiences in the day to day life of being an educator there are an awful lot of teachers who are focused on anything but education.
As events have unfolded in Wisconsin, I have been reflecting on my nearly 10 years in public education. My parents were both teachers and I greatly admired the work they did with their own students. I began with that same passion for teaching that they instilled in me, but am finding it more and more difficult to keep that flame alive.
The hold that unions have over the public educational system is nothing short of toxic. Year after year, I have a lot of money taken out of my paychecks for union dues. What do I get for my money? I am bombarded with emails and flyers “urging” us to vote for candidates that coincidentally always have the letter (D) after them. I get to be lectured to by union reps about the evil Republican candidates are and why they know what is best for me.
Now I am being hit with email after email “urging” me to stand with the teachers of Wisconsin. One teacher who is very tight with our union replied to our district making fun of Republicans directly. You might ask why I don’t forward this to human resources, but the repercussions would be brutal.
The truth is that any teacher who does not hold down the talking points of the unions, DNC or Obama White House needs to keep quiet to keep their job. The vitriol I heard over the Bush years was deafening but acceptable and expected. I can hardly remember a week that went by where teachers, sometimes in front of students, were not making fun of Republicans. I’ve personally been the subject of much ridicule and scorn from fellow teachers and will continue to be as long as I am in public education. I believe in what I am doing in my own classroom by focusing on educating students, but as time goes by it is becoming more and more likely that I will leave education all together. Not because of students, but because of the unions and the teachers that support them.
Frustrated in Minnesota
Commentary and analysis on American politics, culture, and national identity, U.S. foreign policy and international relations, and the state of education - from a neoconservative perspective! - Keeping an eye on the communist-left so you don't have to!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Anti-Union Letter From a Conservative Public School Teacher
At Michelle's:
I would suggest that if you polled most people who want to see union power curtailed, an here is the gist of it, most, if not all, are not going after the teachers. It is the unions who are ensuring we have second class education being given to our children. It is the unions who foist incompetent teachers and administrators on us. It is the unions who spend more time on every other issue except education. Why should any American worker care about global union power especially since that would invariably lead to less jobs here?
ReplyDeleteJust think about what good union dues could accomplished if not being utilized to make millionaires out of union thugs and being used to buy politicians, mostly Democrats. This is not "about the children," it is about the dues and the resulting power it puts in the hands of those who run these unions. If it was not the unions would want people to show their solidarity by voluntarily donating their dues if they so desired. Forced dues are forced slavery except the slaves have not recognized their status yet.