What do billionaire bankers and hedge fund managers have to do with teacher's unions? Nothing...don't use straw men.
Let me explain for your benefit.
Politicians are cutting funding for education because they claim there's no money in government coffers. At the same time, in the last few years the federal government has spent
up to $23 trillion on bailouts to the big banks. Tell me again how these two things aren't related?
They need an easy scapegoat for why schools have to make cuts and the teachers' unions fit the bill.
All public sector unions drain tax payer moneys, stiffle growth, and decrease productivity.
Leave aside the fact that the amount of taxpayer money spent on public employees is microscopic compared to the amount spent on the bloated military-industrial complex or bailouts to Wall Street.
We're talking about public education. Teaching children is a public service, it's not a business. But like the corporate media and politicians, you talk about it like it's a business. What do you mean by "growth"? What does that have to do with schools? There should be as much education as there are children that require it. This isn't like the economy where growth can be seen as a good in and of itself.
Increasing productivity is a good thing, but not by paying teachers less, increasing stress levels and putting them under more pressure to get higher results on standardized tests. That doesn't teach creativity or critical thinking; rather, it's a great way to "teach to the test" and turn kids into mindless drones.
The reason teachers' unions are being targeted is because public sector unions are one of the last obstacles remaining in the corporate war on collective bargaining. Private sector unions are weaker now than they've been for decades, whereas public sector unions are the last stronghold of organized labor.
We also have schools, particularly in Southern states, that have a lot of illegal immigrants and children whose second language is English. We also have bloated administration costs that drain a ton of money before it even gets to the classrooms. All of those things are easily fixed. Fire bad teachers, reward good teachers, have separate classrooms for children that cannot speak English and are taught English more heavily, cut down the administrative costs...
How do you cut down on administrative costs? Sounds great, but where do you make those cuts? It's not as easy as just cutting red tape. This is an excuse used to justify general cuts to education funding due to austerity policies.
Also, wouldn't having separate classes for kids who speak English and those who don't cost more? Again, it's a good idea, but it would cost money. That money has to come from somewhere, so even if you cut administrative costs, that money goes straight to funding more classrooms using your idea. So we're right back at square one.
The problem is that we're looking at this through the logic of our current economic system, where the only choice we have is what to cut. Under a system that distributed resources based on human need rather than what turns a profit, this would not be a problem.
One another thing: I'm sick of the talking point we hear that the problems in education today can be fixed by firing "bad teachers". This is an idea we're constantly bombarded with in our culture, through the media and movies like
Bad Teacher and
Waiting for Superman. But who determines what a bad teacher is? That's a case-by-case occurrence; it is not a systemic, institutional issue.
You can't just paint in broad strokes and say that the problem in education is "bad teachers". That's like saying the problem in American politics today is "bad politicians", that the problem in the economy is "bad businessmen" or that the existence of terrorism is due to the fact that there are "bad people" out there. It's a gross oversimplification that blames problems on individuals rather than institutional faults in the system as a whole.
and lastly...do like China and have schools teach trades to kids that won't seek college. Instead of beating off in shop class, work on diesel engines.
This actually isn't such a bad idea.
