Candace is of course right about the legal system granting so many rights to students that teachers are at a terrible disadvantage in trying to enforce discipline and order in their schools. NR had a good article on this by Richard Arum, “Sparing Rod, Spoiling Children: The Impossibility of School Discipline,” October 11, 2004. Teachers can even be held individually financially responsible for violating students’ “rights.”

And, as with sexual-harassment legislation, in order to avoid getting dragged into the legal system and opening themselves to lawsuits, many school districts have initiated elaborate grievance procedures for students on the sub-legal level that virtually grant them the rights of adult citizenship. The slightest transgression on the part of a teacher can result in months of hearings, procedures, appeals, etc. It’s a crying shame. But still, given the givens, and how hard it is for teachers nowadays, is there any wonder that they cling to their unions?