In Part 2 I talk about the corrupt political powerhouse that the teacher’s unions have grown into over the last 100+ years and the issues they cause inside and outside of the American classrooms.
Below you will find the full show notes and reference list for Episode 4 of The State of Education Podcast, presented by One-Room Education.
I can’t wait to start a conversation with you!
Question of the Week:
What were your feelings before and after listening to parts 1 and 2 of Teacher’s Unions…Good or Bad for Your Children?
If you have any questions or comments about this episode or any of the information presented, please make sure to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
Show Notes
Welcome back to The State of Education podcast, presented by One-Room Education. Today’s episode is part 2 of the Teacher’s Unions…Good or Bad for Your Children?
Join me as I discuss the effects of the public teacher’s unions on the American classroom and beyond in this 2 part series.
In part-2 I talk about the corrupt political powerhouse that the teacher’s unions have grown into over the last 100+ years and the issues they cause inside and out of American classrooms.
In the first part of today’s episode, I delve into the problems that have arisen out of the federalization of education in America and the effect it has had on the individual classroom teachers and, by extension, their students. Once the Department of Education was established as an Executive Cabinet Department in 1980s, it was able to then direct the states through incentive programs and other public pressure tactics as to the direction they wanted education to go on a national level. The problem with this is that the education system, at least in the United States, was established to be a local and regional system to ensure education was adapted for the different economic needs throughout the country, not just the urban manufacturing centers that emerged out of the Industrial Revolution.
I present the correlation between the establishment of the federal Department of Education and the expansion of influence and power of the public teacher’s unions.
After the American Civil War, the federal government wanted to ensure that they were able to keep track of what was going on in the South and help to ensure that future generations of southern people would hold the same values as the “free” North. This, according to the though process of the federal government at the time, would be facilitated through positive alliances between the state and federal education departments. This lead to the establishment of the Federal Department of Education in 1867, originally called the Office of Education under the control of the Department of the Interior of the Executive Branch.
The Office of Education was given the task of distributing funds allotted to them by the Second Morrill Act of 1890. This started the march towards the nationalization of the American education system as we know it today. This was used as the basis for the Constitutional acrobatics that is the modern federal Department of Education and the problems it has caused for teachers, students and American society as a whole.
While the Department of Education was founded with, what I believe to be noble intentions, it is simply unconstitutional in its current state. It has ultimately created incentives for corruptions and incestuous relationships between the political arm of the public teacher’s unions and the career political class.
Education is supposed to be a team effort between parents, students, and teachers.
Teacher’s unions, in cooperation with politicians, are working to enable and embolden teachers who want to use the classrooms to forge a new generation of political activists who align with their own beliefs and values, instead of teaching the students how to be independent thinkers and individuals who can discern what their own opinions on worldly matters are instead of relying on someone else to tell them what to think.
Politics has no place in a school outside of a civics classroom.
Teacher’s should be apolitical and should not push their ideologies on their students. Politics has no place in a school outside of a civics classroom. And even in that context, you, as the teacher, are there to facilitate an academic conversation and debate, and to foster curiosity in your students, again, not to tell them what they should or should not believe.
I give personal examples of how this problem has been effecting my private tutoring students and practical steps you can take to help fix the problems created by the political arm of the public teacher’s unions.
It’s not going to be easy, but if we work together, we can solve these problems. It all starts with you and your own local school districts.
~Katie J., Founder of One-Room Education, 2022
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Let me know what topic you want to hear me cover next in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Related Listens
Related Reads
- The State of the Unions *Read More*
- Should We Be Teaching or Facilitating Learning? *Read More*
- The Factory Model: Does It Work? Did It Ever? *Read More*
References
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- Aftunion. “Fighting for Safe Communities and Racial Justice for Our Citizens and Our First Responders.” American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 27 July 2016, https://www.aft.org/resolution/fighting-safe-communities-and-racial-justice-our-citizens-and-our-first.
- Aftunion. “History.” American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 1 Sept. 2017, https://www.aft.org/about/history.
- “Ana, Aft Pass Resolutions on Racial Justice.” WSNA, Washington State Nurses Association, 24 June 2020, https://www.wsna.org/news/2020/ana-aft-pass-resolutions-on-racial-justice.
- Boyd, Ashley S., and Janine J. Darragh. “Teaching for Social Justice: Using All American Boys to Confront Racism and Police Brutality.” American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 9 Mar. 2021, https://www.aft.org/ae/spring2021/boyd_darragh.
- Burke, Cassie Walker, and Mila Koumpilova. “Chicago Teachers Union Wants Student Vaccination Targets, Housing Help.” Chalkbeat Chicago, Chalkbeat Chicago, 6 July 2021, https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2021/7/6/22565801/chicago-teachers-union-wants-a-fall-agreement-school-reopening-student-vaccination-targets-housing.
- Conklin, Audrey. “Chicago Teachers Union Members May Strike If Demands for Remote Learning Period Aren’t Met.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 31 Dec. 2021, https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-teachers-union-possible-strike-winter-break.
- Cowen, Joshua, and Katharine O. Strunk. “How Do Teachers’ Unions Influence Education Policy? What We Know and What We Need to Learn.” How Unions Influence Education Policy, Education Policy Center at Michigan State University , Apr. 2014, https://education.msu.edu/EPC/library/papers/HowUnionsInfluenceEducationPolicy/.
- “Department of Education.” AllGov, AllGov.com, http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-education?detailsDepartmentID=584.
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- Kirkpatrick, David W. “Teacher Unions – Overview, Influence on Instruction and Other Educational Practices.” StateUniversity.com, Web Solutions LLC, https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2486/Teacher-Unions.html.
- Livingston, Amy. “Labor Unions in the United States – How They Work, Pros and Cons.” Money Crashers, Money Crashers, LLC, 7 Oct. 2021, https://www.moneycrashers.com/labor-unions-united-states/.
- “Los Angeles Teachers Union Rejects Return to Classroom until Demands Are Met.” abc7, KABC Television, LLC, 6 Mar. 2021, https://abc7.com/los-angeles-teachers-union-utla-return-to-class/10392567/. Accessed Jan. 2022.
- Mader, Jackie. “The Rise of Teacher Unions: A Look at Union Impact over the Years.” HechingerEd, Teachers College at Columbia University, 19 Sept. 2012, http://hechingered.org/content/the-rise-of-teacher-unions-a-look-at-union-impact-over-the-years_5601/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2022.
- Menas, Amanda. “Ask a Teacher: Why Is the Equality Act Critical for LGBTQ Educators and Students?” NEA, NEA, 7 June 2019, https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/why-equality-act-matters-for-lgbtq-educators-students.
- Moreno, Paul. “The History of Public Sector Unionism.” Hillsdale College, Hillsdale College, 9 July 2019, https://www.hillsdale.edu/educational-outreach/free-market-forum/2011-archive/the-history-of-public-sector-unionism/.
- O’keefe, James, director. CA High School Teacher Admits Communist Indoctrination of Students: ‘Turn Them into Revolutionaries.’ YouTube, Project Veritas, 31 Aug. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83b_u5V51U8. Accessed Feb. 2022.
- “Pledge to Support LGBTQ Equality.” NEA EdJustice, National Education Association, 13 June 2018, https://neaedjustice.org/lgbtqequality/.
- Pok, Brian. “The Origin of Unions and Their Application to Teachers.” Education Studies, Yale Education Studies Students Research on Equity, Policy, School Choice & Desegregation, 29 Apr. 2017, http://debsedstudies.org/the-origin-of-unions/.
- “Promoting Gender Equity.” NEA, NEA, https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/just-equitable-schools/core-values/promoting-gender-equity.
- “Racial Justice Is Education Justice.” NEA EdJustice, National Education Association, 20 Apr. 2021, https://neaedjustice.org/racial-justice-is-education-justice/.
- Roache, Joel Edmund, and Ramon (Rom) Lewis. “Teachers’ Views on the Impact of Classroom Management on Student Responsibility.” Australian Journal of Education (AJE), vol. 55, no. 2, ser. 4, 1 Nov. 2011. 4, https://doi.org/10.1177/000494411105500204. Accessed 18 Jan. 2022.
- Shaar, Noah. “Before Fall in-Person School, Chicago Teachers Union Wants over 4,000 New Workers.” Illinois Policy, 15 July 2021, https://www.illinoispolicy.org/before-fall-in-person-school-chicago-teachers-union-wants-over-4000-new-workers/.
- Siegel, Fred, et al. “How Teachers’ Unions Handcuff Schools.” City Journal, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc., 18 June 2019, https://www.city-journal.org/html/how-teachers%E2%80%99-unions-handcuff-schools-12102.html.
- “Sign on to Aft Pennsylvania’s Principles of Racial Justice.” Action Network, AFT Pennsylvania, https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-on-to-aft-pennsylvanias-principles-of-racial-justice.
- Simoni, Stephanie. “Learning Lost? Teachers Discuss the Impact of Remote Learning on Students.” NEWS8, WTNH a Subsidiary of Nexstar Media Inc., 7 Feb. 2022, https://www.wtnh.com/news/learning-lost-teachers-discuss-the-impact-of-remote-learning-on-students/. Accessed Feb. 2022.
- Union, AFT. “History.” American Federation of Teachers, 1 Sept. 2017, https://www.aft.org/about/history.
- Vera, Amir, and Holly Yan. “Chicago Public School Students Will Return to Classroom Wednesday after Teachers Union Suspends Work Action, Mayor Says.” CNN, Cable News Network, 11 Jan. 2022, https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/10/us/chicago-schools-teacher-union-mayor-monday/index.html.
- Zempel, Kylee. “Teachers Unions Unveil New COVID Demand: Pay Us for Doing Nothing.” The Federalist, FDRLST Media, 31 July 2020, https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/31/government-teachers-unions-unveil-new-covid-19-demand-pay-us-for-doing-nothing/.
- Álvarez, Brenda. “Advocating for Racial Equity in Our Schools.” NEA, NeaToday, 2 Oct. 2019, https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/advocating-racial-equity-our-schools.
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