> From: Nicholas Herndon <nherndon@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Teacher's unions encourage an environment
> of apathy and mediocrity. Good teachers are stifled while bad teachers
> continue teaching.
I don't think you can make generalizations about unions. There are good ones,
and bad ones. Even the most strident anti-union person would not want a return
of the pre-union sweatshops, where children worked sixteen hour days.
My Mom was a career elementary teacher. She didn't much care for the MEA
state-wide teachers' union, but she absolutely loved the local union. Without
local organization, classroom size would have swelled to over 40 students per
teacher.
Compare salaries between private schools and public schools, and you'll see the
importance of organized labour. I don't know of any unionized teachers who have
become filthy rich from their job, but I do know of private school teachers who
are barely above poverty.
Again, that's not to say that unions don't abuse their power, too. But let's
face it, the cards are stacked against them. Compare average CEO salary with
average union president salary, for a start.
In general, things start because they serve a purpose. Then they go through a
growth phase as they succeed in filling that purpose. Then they stagnate, and
spend more of their energy defending their existence than in filling their
purpose. Then, with any luck, they die, and the bits of their disintegration
form the seeds of new things.
The problem is not unions, it's that many of them outlive their purpose, and
end up clinging to power, rather than serving their constituents. But this is
no different that business, or politics. Should we get rid of business and
politics, as well as unions? Or should we just get better at figuring out when
something is over, and in letting it die?
(For more in-depth on this, google for "panarchy".)
----------------
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings
total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and
through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its
path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides
:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality Co-op ::::
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