Sometimes unions make bad calls in individual situations, sure. But for all of the myriad of big issues that exist in public school systems, I don't see unions as being the fundamental source for system-wide issues. Here are some issues I identify:
- Money. Schools just often lack the financial resources they need to provide a robust and well-rounded education.
- Bureaucracy. Public schools are heavily regulated in complicated ways, from the local school board, to state education board, to federal laws. When changes need to happen, it can be hard to figure out how to change something, or to find people with enough energy and stubborness to push through the bureaucracy. I guess union contracts would be included in the web of bureaucracy, but it is my experience that teacher unions are just as often the vehicle with enough energy and experience to push for beneficial changes.
- Culture war nonsense. The education of our children is an emotional and sensitive issue for people, understandbly so. Unfortunately, public schools are becoming a battle ground for people to "fight" in whatever culture war issue is being roused up at the time (discussions on gender, critical race theory, book bans, prayer in schools, sexual education, military recruiters on campus, cops/school resource officers, take your pick). These issues have to be acknowledged and addresses, and it uses up real resources to do so. In the nastiest situations, individual school staff can be targeted and harassed, and in those cases it is very good to have a union to support staff.
There are specific local issues I'd like to provide as anecdotes, but it's local and newsworthy enough that my IRL identity would start to bleed into this online identity, which I try to keep pseudo-anonmyous. So I'll try to stick to generalities.
While I won't argue that unions get things right 100% of the time, and I would absolutely say that my child's education benefits from teachers having strong unions.
No no, it's not about and calls, unions always do what's in the interest of their members. If that means it's bad for non members, tough. Non members can form their own interest groups.
I guess I just think teachers are, on the whole, a pretty great group of people. I feel that way about most working-class people, tbh. I think we'd be a stronger society if more working people were represented by strong unions.
I think many teachers are pretty great. Yet some teachers are failing our children, and we need to be able to fire them. For me, the issue is totally about public sector unions. Public schools have a government granted monopoly on education. Who is on the other side of the bargaining table with the union representatives? It's parents, or the representatives that they voted for. Yet unions themselves are political, and they lobby those representatives. Teachers, and their friends and family are voting too. The bargaining power of parents becomes diluted. This is how teacher's unions become so strong that schools can no longer give children the quality of education they otherwise would get. Check out "Waiting for Superman" for a concrete example of how this is playing out in LA and NYC.
Well, I feel the opposite about teachers at least, I think they're mostly an awful group of people. Maybe my view is colored by my experience, or maybe by the state of education in the US. I do like most working class people, and I tend to agree with them more often than not politically.
There are specific local issues I'd like to provide as anecdotes, but it's local and newsworthy enough that my IRL identity would start to bleed into this online identity, which I try to keep pseudo-anonmyous. So I'll try to stick to generalities.
While I won't argue that unions get things right 100% of the time, and I would absolutely say that my child's education benefits from teachers having strong unions.