I realize that this has been on my stack since mid-last-month and schools are already starting to open for the year but thanks to Teachers Unions parents aren’t all that happy with this new redefinition of education. Are any Republicans going to take advantage of that?
Related: COVID19: Are Teacher’s Unions Unintentionally Destroying their Education Monopoly?
You should read to the bottom because this an epic failure by Republicans to not just help parents and kids but to man up and take advantage of a political opportunity to give the Democrat Party (and its mouthpieces and funding mechanisms) a good swift kick in the ‘nads.
Reformatted, emphasis mine:
TEACHERS UNIONS ARE MAKING A PROFOUNDLY STUPID MISTAKE: By effectively withholding services they are paid billions of tax dollars to deliver, they are forcing millions of Americans to discover that there are alternatives available, including one that could dramatically improve their financial situations now and their children’s prospects tomorrow.
The Unions are all about themselves and not about the children.
I’ve written about some of them (notably LA and San Diego but applicable to most of the US). Not just complaining about safety but publicly and loudly demanding various Democrat political agenda items. Like defunding the police, Medicare for all, free housing – you get the idea. And no work until they get that.
They’ve forgotten who works for who – which happens when Government gets too big and components of it believe they have the power to hold others politically (and in this case, educationally), hostage.
And all parents want is for their kids to be educated.
The following is from a family member who prefers to remain private, but who is happy to share what I view as a superb summary of the situation being forced upon so many Americans by the teachers unions. He was responding after I encouraged him to read and react to the National Review piece Glenn linked earlier today:
“For context, we are definitely in the privileged group here, and I don’t mean that in the woke social justice warrior sense, but we have highly performing public schools here due in large part to being predominantly upper middle class with residents who work in the private sector. This means that while we are certainly not immune to the leftist dogma found in other places, generally speaking, our teachers are from and live in our communities where they teach, and are often two-income families with their own kids in the school system.
“That said, we are seeing a few things that lead me to believe that we are reevaluating the entire way we view the role of the government in schools. To the writer’s point, Covid19 has [forced] the frustration which has historically only been felt by those living in major cities, and especially in poor minority communities, into the suburban mainstream.
“As I type this just a few weeks from the start of public school, nearly every family we know is either struggling to make arrangements for their kids or has already decided to pull them out of public school for private or homeschool options. And to be clear about those ‘arrangements’ for the ones who have to give online public school a try, many of those parents are choosing between their jobs and childcare. They are literally having to decide which of their two jobs has the better income, healthcare benefits, schedule flexibility, etc. and leaving the other. (Emphasis added) Consider the financial and macroeconomic impact of these decisions being made all over the country, specifically in the middle class who drive our country’s GDP.
“And, for the families who either cannot leave a job or are not interested in what has been proposed by the public school systems, they are either spending tens of thousands of dollars per year on private education or are now for the first time acquainting themselves with homeschooling options. I will also add that in many cases, private schools are full and homeschooling curriculum options are sold out leaving families with no idea what they will do in a few weeks.
“Based on all of this, my prediction is that within the next six months we will see renewed calls for school choice in counties all over the country. The combination of poor choices available for those who must attend public schools with boiling frustration from those now spending tens of thousands of dollars on private school, while simultaneously continuing to pay the same amount in taxes will cause voters to demand vouchers or the outright closing of public schools all over the country, which I think ultimately will be a good thing for the country. When the general public demands that public schools compete for our tax dollars the options will get better, but it is going to be a painful bumpy road getting there.”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the above.
It used to be the parent’s responsibility to educate their children. Then parents banded together to form “one-room schoolhouses” where the parents hired a teacher to teach their children – still direct parental control but with a bit of outsourcing. But it was local and the teacher was a “direct” employee, so standards could be kept up.
Progressives brought not just Socialism back from Germany in the 1880s, unfortunately, but the German warehouse model of education. Teaching was transitioned from parental control to the Government who could (and have) molded kids in what THEY believed was right-think.
Over the last few decades, that right-think (right, Dewey?) became the main emphasis and not education.
And now parents, unhappy with the services for which they are paying, are starting to complete the circle and take control back for themselves.
The unions have only themselves to blame. They’ve “taught” themselves out of jobs and Jon DiPietro has it right again (Manchester, NH numbers but this is playing out all over NH and the country).
Manchester School District announced 2021 enrollment is down 564 students (4.3%). Over the last 12 years, enrolment is down 24% and spending is up 53%. Per-pupil spending is up 18% in just three years under @MayorJoyceCraig. #nhpolitics #schoolsreopening #SchoolChoice pic.twitter.com/eZVrzhAQcz
— Jon DiPietro, Village Skeptic (@jondipietronh) August 25, 2020
School Boards are trying to defend their Districts NEAP or other standardized test scores but in almost all cases Public Education is both a bad investment and or poor value. But almost any Superintendent will try to defend it by going after the students, economic status, parents, you name it, rather than the curriculum and those teaching the curriculum.
Most of it, IMHO, comes from School Boards who AREN’T DEMANDING HIGHER STANDARDS from their employees. They are taught (here in NH, by the NH School Board Association, to “trust your professionals” who end up running the “captured” School Boards (go ahead, search “Earl of Metzler” here on GraniteGrok for a prime example).
But with ALL that above, here is my real point (if you didn’t catch the drift of the opening paragraph here):
To which I must add: Where are the Republicans? Why aren’t they loudly and insistently responding to the plight of these millions of Americans? Why aren’t they demanding school choice now??? This could be a momentous turning point in American politics and culture, but are Republicans smart enough and courageous enough to show the needed leadership?
He’s right – there is a vast political vacuum to be filled and the Republicans are still sitting on their hands.
Where are they?
We’ve got (close to) 400 running in the NH House, the Guv is a Republican (we think), and many elected representatives at the more local levels are Republicans.
This is one reason why I’m no longer using “elected leaders” BECAUSE they aren’t leading. Certainly not like what I see from the other side of the aisle. I’m betting that I could list the Rs that are vocal on my two hands and still have a high percentage of digits left over.
This is election time – and ALL of the Democrats that are running for office are yammering on any media platform possible to tell people what they will do TO them if elected (yeah, TO was deliberately chosen for all the wrong reasons). Many of them are talking about schools and education. Republicans?
I know of one. ONE. And I have something from him to put up in my next post.
ONE.
WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? Why aren’t you all involved in this? Why aren’t you all taking advantage of this (unfortunately) lifetime opportunity to give people MORE CHOICE than being locked into a zip coded warehouse that is run by your ideological enemies who are teaching the kids that you aren’t any good because you aren’t a Progressive?
There are a whole lot of us that want you to FIGHT for what we think is right; become hellraisers for OUR causes and concerns like the Democrats do for all their splintered interest groups in their ever-growing Group Identity Politics Totem Pole.
Or maybe it’s OU like getting kicked in the ‘nads all day long.
(H/T: Instapundit)
