The other day, I happened upon a UFT rally in front of the local Senator's office a few blocks from my house. I was headed to a bike shop to fix a busted crank, and saw a few teachers from my high school. I stopped by to say hello. Being insular in my classrooms throughout the school day, I only know them by face. I asked what the rally was specifically about? The guy (There was a man and a woman.) said something to the effect that he was attending the communist rally. He was standing to the side making fun of it.
This struck me as odd. For one, the ability to openly question a sitting state senator probably would not have been tolerated in any communist regime. How does advocating for upholding the integrity of anyone's profession have anything to do with a totalitarian system that owns and controls every facet of life? This guy is a teacher and clearly doesn't know what communism is. I find too many people lumping communism with socialism, or really anything the government spends money on other than military and oil subsidies.
Asking further, he was all for moving to government vouchers. I do need to do more homework on this, but initially I think defunding public education in the form of subsidies to private schools would break the unions, thus greatly decrease the protections, salaries, and benefits of all teachers. And, because schools would need to convince parents to send kids to their schools, they would spend too much of that government money on marketing rather than education. In addition, since the money is coming from the government, wouldn't they keep asking for more, since profit is the motive of any private company. Where else would the money come from? The people with the vouchers couldn't afford a private school education in the first place. They won't pony up more cash they don't have. Seems like the guy wants to sabotage his own profession and advocate more government spending, while further degrading our education system. Higher tax rates taken from his lower paying teaching job could very well be an outcome. Hopefully he doesn't get sick!
About Me
- lawrence
- As a teenager, I subscribed to the notion that one should "retire" (read: celebrate life) in his twenties so he could learn from the world less encumbered by material trappings and only then should he settle in to adulthood. The world may be a more compassionate place. This, I believe, is true luxury. I am now in my forties.
