In a recent blog post, I noted the similarities between the Taxi Medallion and Public Education Systems.
Taxis and Teachers – Ominous Parallels. The following quote summarizes my main point: “My guess is that most teachers would agree that Uber and Lyft are the better bargain [when it comes to public transportation]. But I also know that there are many teachers who don’t see the connection between the efficiency of the free market system for transportation and the LACK of efficiency in the system of public education.” At the end of that post, I asked the following question: “I wonder when hard-core rank and file union teachers will realize that their days are as numbered as the taxi drivers?” I asked that question because I wondered why there was such a widespread denial of what seems obvious. Of course, the final days of public schools as we now know them are years in the future, so maybe this has something to do with it. But after thinking some more about this topic, I was struck by the idea that, maybe, unions play a part here also. Maybe they are enabling this denial through their focus on victim-hood. UNIONS AND SOCIAL “JUSTICE” FOR “VICTIMS” Unions are HUGE advocates of what is called social “justice.” When I did a search on the National Education Association’s web site, I found the following examples just on the first page of results: Social Justice Activist Award Diversity Toolkit: Social Justice Social Justice Lesson Plans Social Justice Warriors Conference on Racial and Social Justice Registration and Fees NEA Calls on all Educators to be “Social Justice Patriots” The essence of social “justice” is the idea that everyone is potentially a victim. Perhaps you think I exaggerate? Consider the following from the NEA’s Diversity Toolkit: “The absence of social justice results in social oppression. Racism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, and heterosexism are some forms of social oppression in society.” Here are a couple of other categories of oppression that the NEA left out for some reason (but I covered them in my blog post Obsession with Oppression: The NEA Legitimizes Victimhood Status):
The way I see it, the individuals who make up these categories are seen as potential “victims.” As such, unions and other social justice warriors will be more than prepared to fight to rescue them from the oppression which binds them down. “TEACHERISM” – A New Social Justice Category? Why not add teachers to the list of the oppressed? We can call it “Teacherism.” After all, haven’t we heard the stories about how many teachers have to work a second job just to make ends meet? And how about that teacher that has to sell her own blood in order to pay the bills? That sure sounds like legitimate oppression to me. Where is the justice for teachers? FIGHTING FOR A “PERPETUAL PRESENT” When I read about a possible United Parcel Service strike next week, I couldn’t help thinking that unions are, essentially, fighting a losing war against reality. As technology advances, market forces will make so many of the workers “protected” by unions irrelevant. In essence, unions are nothing more than an organized attempt to exchange the future an impossible perpetual present. In this sense, although they are often described as progressive organizations, they are, in fact, quite conservative in their goals. And they are also very good at marketing their product. The National Education Association (NEA) and the state teacher unions have been able to convince hundreds of thousands of teachers to spend millions of dollars of hard-earned money for what they offer. THE UNION ANSWER TO “TEACHERISM” – Be a victim and we will protect you … Why do so many teachers fall for this? Well, to be fair, not all of them do. There are some teachers who are ardent union advocates and feel that the benefits outweigh the costs. And there are many others who probably just do it out of habit. This is certainly true in the district within which I teach. Even though teachers are now allowed to opt-out of paying dues in New Jersey, most of my colleagues stayed in the union. They either were not aware of the opportunity, or just didn’t want to take the time to cut ties. But there are far too many teachers who buy into the victim-hood mentality that the unions constantly push on their members. An article entitled “Victims” Make Good Union Targets at the Omega HR Solutions website expressed it perfectly: “… unions thrive on the culture of victimhood. For a union to gain a toehold in a business they need to find, or need to create, a victim inside the workplace. And of course the “them” is always management. As a “victim” worker, management could always be paying you more, or offering you better benefits, or more security.” In any case, as the saying goes, the writing is on the wall. As technology continues to change our reality, traditional public schools will go the way of all outdated technologies. Don’t believe me? Go ask your local milkman – if you can find him, that is …
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AuthorGregory Monte is a libertarian public school teacher in the state of New Jersey Archives
January 2019
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