That flu is still going around: The teachers of Madison, Wis., have called in “sick” again, shutting down the schools. Of course, there is no flu, and the only sickness is a nasty unionism, an epidemic of lying.
I wonder how these teachers — I’m tempted to put that word in quotation marks: “teachers” — can look themselves in the mirror. How can their students look at them the same way again? I will repeat what I said (twice, I think) yesterday: I wish the public could call in sick on the teachers. I wish these people could be fired, in favor of people who want to teach, think it a privilege to do so, and will operate honestly.
What if students called in sick, en masse, on the day of a test? They could say, “Well, we learned from the adults standing in front of us: our dear, ever-conscientious teachers.”
Well-off parents have a choice, of course: They can send their kids to private schools where teachers, when they call in sick, are generally sick. Schools that don’t shut down whenever teachers happen to feel aggrieved. But ordinary people have no choice: The teachers’ unions have blocked it for them. You are stuck with an education system monopolized by these unions, whether you like it or not.
In my view, this system, whatever its other flaws, is also mean. Plain mean.
I’ve received a crush of mail from Wisconsin, from various perspectives, saying various things. Some letters are from teachers who feel agonized: They don’t like what the governor and his allies are doing, but they are appalled by the way their union is behaving: both the “sick-ins” — or are they “sick-outs”? — and the thuggish rallying, in which students themselves are coerced to participate.
Most disgusting: the mob that went to Governor Walker’s home. What are they going to do next, cut his dog’s throat?
The teachers in Madison and elsewhere have decided that there will be no more school this week. They have decided that all by themselves. They have simply locked students — whose parents are probably taxpayers — out of their own classrooms.
And everything the teachers do, of course, is for the sake of “the children.” I wish the children could talk back, borrowing a phrase from anti-war movements: “Not in my name.”
For decades now, union militancy has dragged the teaching profession through the mud, robbing that profession of its public spirit, even of its professionalism. (Can we drop the pretense that the marauders at Walker’s home are “professionals”? Professional bullies, maybe.) Normally, I don’t like the rhetoric of “take back”: “take back” this, “take back” that. But maybe it is time for people at large to take back society from the public-employee unions. You can sense that spirit in New Jersey and Wisconsin, quite strongly. Sheer necessity — budgetary necessity — has driven these states to it.
Via my friend Scott Johnson at Power Line, I found this column by Patrick McIlheran in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. McIlheran writes,
“Union activists in Madison Tuesday spoke apocalyptically of ‘class war,’ hinting wildly at general strikes and takeovers of the Capitol. They correctly see their control of the state slipping and must figure that if they bring 13,000 shouting people to Madison, they can overrule the election.”
“They correctly see their control of the state slipping” — what sweet words. I hope that Governor Walker and other elected officials can stay strong. They have an opportunity to restore sanity to our public affairs and to reassert self-government: by the people, for the people, and all that jazz. I will make the simple point that society belongs to everyone: not just to people who can yell, shut down schools, and intimidate.
Jay, the way to think about this from a "taxpayer" point of view is this: These aren't just plain ol' taxes, the education system in WI and everywhere else in this country is funded (by and large) using the most hated of taxes on planet Earth, Property Taxes.
13,000 teachers marching in Madison on "paid sick leave" funded, in part by local Property Taxes, is the kind of thing that absolutely launches regular people into orbit. The Governor should be making this point daily.
And I'll repeat something I posted the other day. The School Districts *should not be closing*. "Only" about 40% of teachers are lying about being sick. The Superintendents should be contacting parent volunteers to keep the little ankle biters in their desks every day. I'm sure there are enough stay at home parents to get the job done. The little rug rats can sit there and read books all day. They'll probably learn more. And the kids should be reminded that when they get caught on "Senior Skip Day" they get punished...and their teachers will be punished in kind.
Who knows, maybe some of those volunteer parents will like it so much that they'll be willing to accept full time positions. And any parent up there in WI who sees their child's teacher at the court house on the internet should save the picture and send it to the Superintendent as evidence of fraud.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning they are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."
--R.R. to the air traffic controllers, Aug. 1981
Still stirring words to read or hear, 30 years later.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJay,
A couple of weeks back I got a spam mail from some organization, may have been the Wisconsin folks. It was a call to action. From memory, it said, "Cuts for police, firefighters and teachers. How can we be safe and secure if there are cuts for police, firefighters and teachers?"
I am sure I can still feel safe after there are cuts for teachers.
I hope and pray there is a whipsaw here. I want to see the public turn on the unions. It is long overdue.
I am generally supportive of police but in my town, they are all unionized. If I wanted to volunteer at the PD -- well let's just say I can't because the unions don't want me to be able to. At least that is what a cop told me during a Christmas reception we both attended.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe "teachers" are showing exactly why they should not have collective bargaining rights.
Very educational.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou say that the worst aspect of this thuggery is camping out on Walker's lawn, but I disagree. His family can call the cops or shoot trespassers.
By far the worst aspect in this is the teachers' taking schoolkids along to their demo and (probably) feeding them the party line on their point of view.
Only positive point on that that I can see is that these most involved teachers are likely the worst and so probably can't effectively even teach that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere is a sickness, and it's really a gut-check for the Republic. It's going to be the American public that decides the fate of our nation. I'm pretty sure this won't be the first such demonstration to curtail the largesse of public sector unions and entitlement programs. The choice will be for the populace to choose: will you support the difficult decisions that have to be made to right the fiscal ship of the states and the Union, or will you join the rabble-rousing crowd (a la European protests) clamoring for more benefits and less work?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen I was in high school, any student who was out "sick" during finals had to present medical proof of hospitalization or a severe illness or else he/she automatically failed the course and was ineligible to even take a make up exam.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMembers of the professions do not go on strike.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGut check for Wisconsin. If they cave to this, they'll never get anything done.
My high school had layoffs after property tax cuts. My history teacher was outstanding, one of maybe three great teachers in the whole place. But he was junior, and while everyone agreed it was a shame, no one did anything about the seniority rules that got him cut.
He was asked in class why he didn't just call in sick for the balance of the year, he had the days. He said that sick days were for when you were sick, and if you've got a job, you do it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI hope parents use the school downtime wisely to investigate home schooling.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDo these "teachers" (it is really difficult to call them that at this point) really think they are going to get anywhere with the general public this way? If they do, they have truly lost their minds. I have a hard time believing the private sector can sympathize with them for a host of reasons.
Unfortunately, K through 12 education has become something of a daycare for working parents. Private sector parents MUST work. Those parents are now burdened with finding last minute care for children or missing work. At the same time, those "teachers" are receiving a "sick" day paid for with the taxes of the same private sector workers. Either way, the "teachers" are greatly increasing the costs of tax payer. Do they really think they will get the sympathy of the tax payer?
I live in a right to work state. Maybe we think differently down here but I can guarantee they would receive zero sympathy in South Carolina.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUgazag- Agreed. Professionals do not unionize. It is even a violation of the code of ethics in the engineering profession.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's so disappointing that those people to whom we entrust our children - people we expect to live up to a higher standard of honesty and morality - would behave in such a blatantly dishonest and immoral way, all for the sake of money and power. If I had a child in the Wisconsin public school system, I'd be considering alternative education options.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBefore you know it, the public employee unions will be telling the rest of us that from now on we'll have to make bricks without straw.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am not sure whether this makes things better or worse, but I know a few MPS teachers and understand that using "sick days" as a form of vacation is a near-universal practice.
Teachers don't technically get vacation during the school year..so..yeah.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHomeschool. I don't know why more parents don't homeschool their kids.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGov Christie is doing much the same in NJ without protests. Does this mean that the 'notorious' New Jersey Unions are actually more civil than their Wisconsin counterparts?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse" I know a few MPS teachers and understand that using "sick days" as a form of vacation is a near-universal practice."
In most cases, you have a few days that can be used for anything, and the rest must be used for sick days.
So again, I don't see what's so shocking about the teachers taking (gasp) a day off when they aren't actually sick. Like this isn't common practice in the rest of the job world? In teaching, it's actually a documented allowance.
The problem is the coordination to cause damage, not the sick leave itself, despite "the horror, the horror" that some of you would have it.
As for homeschooling--oh, give it a rest. It has to be a fringe solution. Your lives would be utterly unmanageable if it were ever even a significant minority.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJay,
The democrats are now refusing to come to the chamber to vote on the budget measure and protesters are blocking the hallways, entrances and exits of the capitol. WEAC is also calling for all teachers to walk off the job....because it's for the children!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor the legislature to simply repeal collective bargaining is unacceptable. The working teachers of Wisconsin are doing what must be done to protect themselves as workers (including sick-outs). The governor should go to the bargaining table to achieve his goals.
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