LA Sees iPods and Education As Equally Important
Well at least in the poorest area of the city where schools have consistently preformed poorly. After the school board voted to let a private charter company take over administration of the schools the teacher labor union responded this way:
Leaders of the teachers union said they would file a grievance to block the transfer on grounds that the decision violates the teachers’ labor agreement and state law.
Schools that have been significantly under performing and putting minority’s students futures in peril are completely reorganized as a means to solve this problem and the unions response is to protect their own. Don’t get me wrong, this is precisely how a labor union should act. Unions should ignore the fact that their labor is clearly failing to provide a service well primarily because they derive their power not from providing excellent service but by threatening to not provide a service at all. Thus, in the face of repeated failure to educate children in poor areas of LA, it makes sense that their response it to protect the teachers and not the children. It’s precisely why i would favor a federal mandate disbanding teacher unions in the public sector.
One of the criticism against privatizing education is that introducing free markets into the system will change the overarching goal of the education system from educating children to turning a profit. Teacher unions making this argument do so while keeping a straight face even though the union’s goals are not the education of the youth but job security, increases health care benefits and pensions, and salary increases of it’s union members. If you want to talk about greed perverting the goals of education look no further than the teacher’s union.