Re: Educating teachers who never leave the classroom

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Having worked with and without a union I am not so sure that I
want to be part of a union. No doubt that it is better to have
the union available but what about those who do not share the
political views of the candidates that union is backing. I
understand that union dues are paid by the teacher whether you
want to join the union or not because it wouldn't be fair for a
nonmember to reap the benefits from a union. However, if a
person choose not to be a part of a union shouldn't he/she be
able to waive rights to any advantages that being a union member
would bring? For instance, a teacher may be antiabortion but
the NEA supports a candidate that is prochoice. That certainly
would be an issue that may be a source of conflict for the
teacher to have her money being given to someone that does not
share her views on this issue. I just think that we should be
given a choice as to whether to join the union or not.

On 11/07/09, Tanisha wrote:
> I used to work in a charter school where there was no union.
> Now, thank god, I work in a school district. I make an amount
> of money I can live on, have good benefits, get to attend
> professional development,and best of all can advocate for my
> students with out fear of retribution from administrators who
> are only out to make money. We need our unions! Anyways, I
> support all those issues that the NEA supports. Go NEA!
>
>
>
> On 11/04/09, Vanessa wrote:
>> It is time for teachers to know how our NEA union has used
>> us for political gain.
>>
>> * NEA is America's largest labor union
>> * Advocates leftist positions on a host of issues,
>> including abortion, sex education, teen pregnancy, school
>> prayer, socialized medicine, affordable housing, drug
>> testing, prisoner rights, bilingual education, global
>> warming, and health care
>> * Opposes merit pay for teachers
>> * Opposes school vouchers
>> * Ranks among the leading funders of the Democratic
> Party
>> * Has contributed vast sums to many leftwing
> organizations
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Based in Washington, DC, the 3.1 million-member National
>> Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in
>> the United States. It represents public school teachers and
>> support personnel; faculty and staffers in colleges and
>> universities; retired educators; and college students
>> preparing to become teachers. The NEA’s mission is “to
>> advocate for education professionals and to unite our
>> members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public
>> education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse
>> and interdependent world.”
>>
>> The NEA pursues these goals through its 14,000+ local
>> affiliate organizations (which are active in fundraising,
>> conducting professional workshops, and negotiating teacher
>> contracts); its 51 state affiliates (which “lobby
>> legislators for the resources schools need”); and its
>> Washington, DC-based national headquarters (which “lobbies
>> Congress and federal agencies on behalf of its members and
>> public schools, supports and coordinates innovative
>> projects, works with other education organizations and
>> friends of public education, [and] provides training and
>> assistance to its affiliates”).
>>
>> The NEA was founded in 1850 as the National Teachers
>> Association, and adopted its present name in 1857. Promoting
>> government-owned public schools and “modern” pedagogical
>> ideas, this union permitted no private school teachers to
>> join its ranks. These government-owned-and-run schools were
>> modeled on statist European education in Prussia, and
>> attracted socialist activist teachers who saw public school
>> students as perfect subjects for re-engineering society.
>> That remolding began with the anti-Catholic objectives of
>> Horace Mann (1796-1859) and expanded to the anti-religious
>> humanism of John Dewey (1859-1952).
>>
>> In a 1935 report presented at the 72nd annual NEA
>> convention, the union's future Executive Secretary Willard
>> Givens wrote: “A dying laissez-faire must be completely
>> destroyed and all of us … must be subjected to a large
>> degree of social control…. The major function of the school
>> is the social orientation of the individual. It must seek to
>> give him understanding of the transition to a new social
> order.”
>>
>> In a 2003 article titled “NEA Hastens Death of American
>> Education,” veteran journalist Ralph de Toledano wrote that
>> in 1938 “the Institute for Social Research, founded by the
>> Comintern, appeared on the Columbia University campus,
>> taking over the Teachers College, the country’s most
>> influential school of education.” “Better known as the
>> Frankfurt School,” de Toledano continued, “… [the Institute]
>> eschewed the economic aspects of Marxism and promulgated a
>> substitute based on Marx’s 1843 preachments. Later labeled
>> neo-Marxism, the program called for the destruction of
>> religion, the family, education and all moral values, along
>> with the capture of the intellectuals and the instruments of
>> mass communication such as the press, radio and films. To
>> this it appended a new Freudianism, which reduced human
>> relationships to rampant sexuality and the grossest pleasure
>> principles -- -- as "an inspiration" to
>> "every organizer" and "anyone contemplating action in their
>> community."
 

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