Cultural Survival Skills

NEA, and State Subsidiaries: Helping or Hurting Our Children?

I promised my  friend, Mike Schroeder, an employee of the Michigan Education Association (MEA), that I would publish the following information sent to me by him.  Mike is a strong and highly skilled advocate/negotiator for the MEA.

My own position on the National Educational Association, and its State subsidiary unions, is that they have become too powerful in their advocacy of teachers rights and welfare. Educational Unions have also become  strong advocates/contributors for liberal political views and this bias has worked its way into our classrooms. In many ways and places educational unions have significantly damaged our ability to educate and acculturate our children effectively.

Recent news expose’s about grossly incompetent teachers who cannot be fired, who are removed from their classrooms, but continue to be paid large salaries for doing nothing for extensive periods of time is one case in point.

Also, tenure was devised to protect college professors who are charged with the responsibility of discovering new knowledge and promulgating their findings to the world through the  publication of their results. Publishing true, but unpopular findings, has been socially and politically dangerous to the careers of these professional scholars (even their lives) throughout history.

Tenure is not necessary, or desirable, to protect  good to excellent teachers, K through high school, whose job it is to teach established knowledge and theories generated by university level researchers and scholars. It simply makes the elimination of bad teachers, for all but the most egregious actions or limitations, next to impossible.

Finally, I am in favor of school vouchers. This would foster competition among a diversity of educational institutions. Competition, as it generally does, would motivate experimentation,  innovation, improved performance and lowered costs. It would also increase freedom of choice for families…a distinctly American value.

Virtual monopolies (as they always do) lead to poorer products and services and higher prices. This is exactly what has happened to public education in many communities. These and other of our problems with education will not be solved by supporting the present public education monopoly

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Indiana University South Bend

What follows are Mike’s words and quotes. I respectfully believe that he is overstating his case. But, you be the judge. You are welcome to make your arguements for or against our positions in the comments section of my blog.

‘In his historical novel about the Revolutionary War, Rise to Rebellion, Jeff Shaara writes about a conversation between Sam Adams, a member of the Sons of Liberty, and his second cousin John Adams, an attorney in Boston’:

“The people had begun to be bored with the issues. The anger simply wasn’t there anymore. There is an awful danger when the people become accustomed to tyranny. If the people learn to accept small abuses, then larger abuses will follow. It is like a disease, crippling slowly, until the body is beyond repair. Think about our history, John. The times when we have risen up, protested the abuses, the Sugar Tax, the Stamp Act. When there are loud voices here, London hears them, and they back down. But when the voices are quiet, London grows brave again, bringing more abuses, stretching their own laws, reaching their fingers ever so slowly into our pockets, our homes, our rights. It has been five years since the Stamp Act protests. That’s a long time, and memories are regretfully short. It’s been nearly two years since they imposed those ridiculous Townshend Acts. We made so much noise about that, they sent the army here. But despite all those conflicts, the outrageous taxation, the meddling in our affairs by Parliament, even the military occupation, to most people it’s all becoming normal. The people are getting used to being abused. That’s an intolerable situation.”

‘And then some more’:

“There is a powerful blanket cast over this colony, oppressive and deadening. It is much simpler for the citizens to simply endure, to obey the wishes of their king and those fools in Parliament and go about their business. . We have no say in Parliament and we get no respect from the king and his ministers. We are like children, without rights, without a voice, to be disciplined as the parent sees fit. Inflame? Yes, I will do whatever I can to inflame, Cousin. The people have become weary, drained of their strength. They need to remember why.”

‘You know, as I read this, if we were to simply replace the Sugar Tax, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts with PA 112, PA 54, PA 152, and PA 100-103, replace London with Lansing, and then replace King with Governor, Parliament with the Legislature and ministers with Department of Education, you could be talking about Michigan and the public school employees’.

‘Perhaps we need a Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty to fan the flames and turn a spark into a fire because our members are getting used to being abused. And I too find that intolerable’.