The National Education Association should be renamed the National Democrat Education Association. Rusty Lopez points to a Phyllis Schlafly report on this year’s meeting of the national teacher’s union. It turned out that their meeting had little to do with education:
For the 2004 political campaign, the NEA will “partner” with left-wing organizations such as MoveOn.org, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and the pro-Democratic Campaign for America’s Future in order to achieve “the largest mobilization for education ever.” Through a nationwide political strategy called “house parties” to be held Sept. 22, these activists will plan political rallies, register voters, meet with congressional candidates and organize a get-out-the-vote program to cover teachers and parents.
Kerry was to have been the convention’s headline speaker, but he stood them up, choosing that day to announce his choice of Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., as his running mate. The delegates were more than pleased with his replacement, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who was introduced as “one of our closest allies; she’s so close, in fact, that she needs no further introduction.”
The former first lady brought the delegates to their feet with what the NEA’s official newspaper called her “sharp wit,” such as, “We are one day closer to the end of the Bush-Cheney administration.” Actually, she was just a warm-up for a showing of Michael Moore’s anti-Bush movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” right after her speech.
Yes, this is the union that your kid’s public school teacher most likely supports with his or her membership dues. The NEA also set forth its goals for 2005. Among them:
The NEA’s feminist lobbying goals include “reproductive freedom without governmental intervention” (but, of course, with tax funding), affirmative action, assigning women to military combat and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. The NEA’s gay goals include a federal statute prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, income tax benefits for domestic partners and hate crimes legislation.
I find it hard to believe that all public school teachers adhere to this line of thinking. The trouble is that they’re under trememdous pressure to join the union. In some cases they’re required to join in order to get health insurance—even in “open shop” states. We need to pray for and support public school teachers that stand against such union strong-arming.
PS. See also Peter Seabrook’s review of Linda Chavez’s treatment of teachers’ unions in her new book, Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics.
You are right. Not ALL teachers hold the views of the NEA. But as a professional educator and a Conservative, I am awestruck (not in a positive way)at the liberalism that I find in my work environment. I find it indicative of the failures of our educational system. Feel good policies never work. Disciplined study does.