I know that this is utterly unremarkable, but I paused for a moment when I learned that the American Federation of Teachers has endorsed President Obama for reelection — without even bothering to learn who his opponent will be in November. Of course the AFT and the public-school apparatus at large have long been subsidiaries of the Democratic party, but, still, you’d think they’d want to know who was running against the guy before making their endorsement. Remember that the next time your local government-monopoly teachers come around asking for a raise, this is where some of the money is going: “an aggressive grass-roots effort by AFT members to engage their fellow members and their families in broad-based efforts aimed at re-electing Obama.”
There was a little bit of interesting rhetoric in the announcement, which was heavy on mentions of the middle class — “President Obama is the only candidate who will fight to preserve and expand the middle class,” “he shares our deep commitment to rebuilding the middle class,” etc. — but nothing about the poor, who perhaps ought to be of some interest to us all. But this is unsurprising as well: The government schools exist to serve the interests of their employees, who are members of the middle class and the upper-middle class, not those of their most vulnerable students, who for the most part are not members of the middle class, but poor. I appreciate the truth in advertising, even if it was accidental.
Here are some facts: According to the Department of Education, in 2009 about half of the students aged 7 to 13 in the public schools were black or Hispanic. Most students attend highly segregated schools. Only 14 percent of black eighth graders score at or above the level of proficiency on tests of reading comprehension. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, less than half of black men graduate from high school on schedule with a regular diploma, compared to 78 percent for white men. About half of black students attend high schools “in which graduation is not the norm,” but only a tenth of white students do. Less than a quarter of black students finish high school prepared for college, while 40 percent of whites do. The National Assessment of Educational Progress finds that nearly 90 percent of black eighth graders read below their grade level.
AFT President Randi Weingarten says this election is about “the simple yet powerful notion that everyone deserves a fair chance to achieve the American dream.” If we assume that “everyone” includes black students (and poor students generally), and that “a fair chance to achieve the American dream” requires a decent education, then what is required of AFT is not an election endorsement but the mass resignation of its members, who labor in a racially segregated system the purpose of which is to siphon off resources intended for the benefit of the poor for the purpose of inflating their own incomes and political influence, with results that are too obvious (and too tragic) to require elaboration here.
"you’d think they’d want to know who was running against the guy before making their endorsement"
Yeah; maybe it'll be one of the candidates in the Republican field who supports teachers and public schools.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf by "supports" you mean willing to blindly pee money away for votes then you are probably correct.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe public schools and their teachers' union are only designed to perpetuate the Left. They are not about education, and will never endorse somebody on the Right.
The Right supports education, this is not necessarily the same thing as public schools or current crop of teachers (and believe me I'm not lumping them all together, I know several great ones in my own family).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBut hey, we don't have to worry about the poor, they already have a safety net. NRO's candidate of choice told us so.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...you’d think they’d want to know who was running against the guy before making their endorsement."
You answered your own question. Republicans' negative attitude toward teachers is obvious. Why would the ATF, or anyone associated with education, support the Republican nominee?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Republicans' negative attitude toward teachers is obvious."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat should read "toward teachers' unions." And then your last sentence, minus that snotty little appositive, would be true.
". . . , or anyone associated with education, . . ."? You leftists always think that everyone agrees with you, except for us low-brow Conservatives. Look around; you have lots of opposition from lots of groups on public education.
And, by the way, did you mean the AFT, rather than ATF? Slight difference.
"Of course the AFT and the public-school apparatus at large have long been subsidiaries of the Democratic party..."
I believe you have that backwards. Follow the money, and I believe you'll find that the Democratic Party is owned by the teachers' unions. Those unions have more political staff than both major political parties combined.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI welcome Kevin D. Williamson's call to scorn the golden rule. After all, there's no reason to respect your neighbors or treat them better than yourself if they're nothing but "your local government-monopoly teachers." It's not like they're real people, or American citizens, or members of the community or anything so utterly nominal. Scorn them first. Ship them to GITMO second.
Oscar Wilde got it right: "Anything worth learning can never be taught."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm opposed to monopolies. And graft. And the inculcation of ignorance. So I'm not seeing a lot to endorse at the AFT.
I don't want to send them to Gitmo (which was a deeply stupid thing for you to write). I just want to stop them from ripping us off.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen teachers in my local school district and their union reps insisted that the quality of education would decline if they didn't receive more money, more days off and more assistants to help them do their jobs - there are currently more non-teachers employed by the school district than teachers - the school board responded by requesting additional property tax revenue from the City via a special referendum. Little did I know the intent of our dedicated and concerned teachers was to preserve-rebuild-expand the middle class, not enrich themselves by demanding that middle class taxpayers who are already struggling to make ends meet pay higher taxes.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Of course the AFT and the public-school apparatus at large have long been subsidiaries of the Democratic party"
I thought it was the other way round. It's the Dems that bow and scrape to the union.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe low educational achievement of blacks and 'hispanics' has very little to do with quality of teachers; after all, NEA and AFT teachers also teach white and Asian teachers. The problem is the students themselves.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere are five candidates: Obama, Romney, Paul, Santorum and Gingrich. They endorsed one. What's wrong with that?
Now, if their favorite turned out to be a Republican, it might be prudent to wait until the GOP nomination is decided. But the candidate they chose is the presumptive Democratic nominee so why wait?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHence the non-surprise. Why even endorse? Was the endorsement up in the air at some point since Obama won in 2008?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes. Organizations that traditionally support one party or the other should not make announcements about which one they are supporting.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs the wife of a dedicated teacher, I get SO frustrated when people assume that we all vote Democrat just because the union does. And quite honestly, my husband does an amazing job at his school, more concerend about the students he reaches than the politics at his school. He's not greedy for more money, he doesn't ask for more days off....he just wants to do his job. So before you poo-poo on all the teachers out there, ask just where your education came from and who taught you to be the writer that you are. Leave teachers alone to do their jobs (reach kids and not just teach to the test) and we'll leave you alone to do yours. And a note, one of the greatest predictors of how well a student does at school is the support of their parents. So we ask parents to work with us, not against us, as we strive to teach children, of any race or background.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'll be happy to leave the teachers alone, just as soon as they get their hands out of my pocket. When I'm paid out of tax dollars, then you'll have an argument. Until then, it's apples and oranges.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAlong the same vein as Jason, I prefer this to the common act of newspapers, where they first endorse a candidate in each primary and then just happen to decide that, of the two that make it to the general, they prefer the D.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI suspect Randi Weingarten's feelings will hurt a great deal next year when she requests a meeting with the new Republican president and he tells her to "go pound sand."
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse“he shares our deep commitment to rebuilding the middle class,”
So, they were talking about Romney, right? Isn't that what he was excoriated for last week? Something like, "I'm not worried about the poor, they have the safety net, I'm not worried about the rich, they're rich. I'm concerned about the middle class that are under assault" (not a direct quote obviously). Who knew that Obama was trying to help the middle class. Yet another item he has been successful at, helping the middle move toward the bottom!
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