The announcement that NEA is giving away all the political capital it has by making a premature endorsement of Barack Obama's re-election was the last straw. I read the reasons why the endorsement was made. On the surface, they seem credible.
It was noted that none of those who are running on the Republican ticket are likely to provide public education with any support. Undoubtedly, that is true. The seeds of the nightmare that is today's public education were planted by the GOP with its support of vouchers, its constant hammering on the so-called "Godless" schools and their "brainwashing" of susceptible children, and its Greek chorus of billionaires spreading the fiction that American schools were failing, when, in fact, American schools have continued to excel in all areas except those which are stricken with poverty.
And then you have the explanation of the how the calendar works against an effective endorsement of the president in 2012. If it is not done this year, the argument goes, the endorsement cannot be made officially until July 2012, long after it can offer any help for the president or for NEA.
My answer to NEA: Rework your calendar and show a little intestinal fortitude. By casting your lot with Barack Obama, and it pains me to say this, you are endorsing the president who has done more to destroy what is good about public education than any president in history...
With all unions under attack, NEA, one of the few that is still doing well, had the opportunity to hold back its endorsement and perhaps gain some concessions from the president...Instead, NEA's leadership continued its recent policy of capitulating to the forces that that would love to eventually destroy public education (and the NEA itself).
Public education does not need Jack Kevorkian. It has the NEA. http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2253§ion=Article I hadn't thought about it, but it's interesting that the attacks on teachers since Obama took office, as far as i can tell, have concentrated on AFT-affiliated teachers.
Is this the case?
If so, it wouldn't be the first time unions were picked off one by one in that manner.