Re: Educating teachers who never leave the classroom

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You do not have to contribute to the political action committee
(PAC) of most teacher unions. That is normally an option.

On 11/07/09, Union vs. No Union wrote:
> 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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