What is a Liberty-Loving Teacher to Do?
On a previous blog post, I explained why many teachers join a teachers’ union. In my estimation, the biggest reason is to get the liability insurance in case of a lawsuit. What many teachers do not realize is how many teachers’ unions are blatantly partisan.
On Dec. 4, the California Teacher’s Union released a video titled “Tax the Rich: An Animated Fairy Tale.”
The cartoon, which smacks of indoctrination of children, attacks rich people as the villains of most of our society’s ills. The greedy rich decided they did not want to pay taxes. So they bought politicians, paid for private schools, and private security. They basically stole all of their money from the 99 percent.
It is natural to want some liability coverage, but there must be a way to get it without supporting an organization that seeks to indoctrinate children with anti-rich propaganda, opposes school choice, balks at performance pay, and protects low-performing teachers.
One option may be the Association of American Educators (AAE).
As one AAE member says, “The AAE does not go out and lobby the government for random political issues. What they do is they handle only education issues.”
The AAE also is generally supportive of many sensible education reform initiatives. Such as:
School Choice
“Parents must have the choice of where to educate their individual child. And as educators we must recognize the possibilities for advancement and positive growth in the profession through school choice.”
Performance Pay
“Teachers in a modern workforce do not necessarily need one-size-fits-all salary and benefits packages that do little to recognize teachers who go above and beyond in their schools. “
Tenure Reform
“Further, AAE is against the ‘last hired, first fired’ policy by which newer teachers, regardless of performance are let go first to meet lay-off requirements.”
As a former public school teacher, I know there are many liberty-loving individuals in the classroom and there are probably more organizations that support those values and teachers.
If you are a teacher who supports free-market ideals, I would love to hear from you. Or if you know of other organizations that Missouri teachers should know about, please let me know.
You can reach me at [email protected] or on Twitter @Shulsie
