LA Teachers’ Union Candidates Double Down: Vow to Become More Combative

February 5th 2011 · 0 Comments

Wow! If comprehension were on a test, these eight union boss wannabes would fail miserably. Instead of realizing that the reason so many Americans are looking to reform education because of the roadblocks teachers’ union put in the way of success, these contenders for Dunce of the Year want to erect the Berlin Wall.

The eight candidates vying to be president of the powerful Los Angeles teachers union share a general belief that public education is endangered by malevolent forces outside and corrupt incompetency inside.

From their perspective, corporations seek to bleed dollars from schools and collude with powerful nonprofits, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; a top-heavy, punitive school district bureaucracy stifles innovation while squandering or squirreling away millions; charter schools abuse teachers, drain public resources and take only the best students; and traditional schools need a lot more money.

The best weapon against these forces, the candidates assert, is the strongest possible, most combative union to serve as a last bastion against those who seek to do harm to students and teachers.

So, according to the unions, it’s a grand conspiracy and they need to be more combative? Now, if that doesn’t tell you how out of touch they are, then nothing else will.

Read the rest @ latimes.com.