Big Bad Teacher Unions

By Matthew Dunn

                What do Kim Kardashian and teachers’ unions have in common?  They are both given a tremendous amount of negative attention by the American press.  The American media in recent years feels that they have stumbled onto the twisted and selfish dealings that are conspired on inside teacher unions.  If you don’t believe me, Google teacher unions, and you will find that one of the first search results is an anti-teacher union website. 

                There has been a remarkable shift in the way that teachers are portrayed.  At one time it seems that they were held up as saints for the work that they did.  It seems now, that there is a much different attitude towards teachers and their unions in particular.  Conservative commentator Ann Coulter once referred to teachers as “taxpayer supported parasites who were inculcating students in the precepts of the Socialist Party of America”.  That statement may be extreme but it isn’t that far off from moderate columnist Nicholas Kristof, of The New York Times, who says that “he is not a big fan of teachers’ unions”.    

                In 2010, there were several mainstream documentary films about schools which saw teacher unions as the problems.  Both Waiting for Superman and The Lottery, were played widely, and garnered much publicity.  In celebration of the release of Waiting for Superman, NBC played a series of reports about how public schools were failing, and it seemed as though teachers’ unions were given a great deal of the blame. 

                Teachers’ Unions are portrayed as reluctant to school reforms, influential with government officials, and protective of bad teachers.  Recently, Fox 5 Editorialist referred to the UFT (The New York City Teachers’ Union) as keepers of the status quo.  He also referred to them with words such as union boss, to describe the President of the UFT, and a very organized and effective political machine.  In a recent town hall debate, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey said that teachers’ unions are the problem. 

                So with all this bad press, is all of this information true?  Are teachers’ unions causing schools to fail?  On teachersunionexposed.com teachers are said to use their political influence to block school reform.  However, in 2001 the No Child Left Behind Law was passed, creating a federal mandate for reforming schools.  This law passed Congress by heavy majorities in both parties.  If teachers’ unions opposed this reform, it seems as though their influence with Congress was lacking.  In fact there was only one Democratic Senator ( the party that most teacher unions support ) who voted against the bill.  Teachers’ unions have also worked with governments to create new teacher evaluation plans, in response to the federal government’s race to the top initiative. 

                So if teachers’ unions are detrimental to education, that means that states that have few teachers’ unions must have excellent educational systems right?  Wrong.  In fact some of the worst educational systems are in southern states which have routinely the worst educational systems in the nation.  Mississippi, almost always ranked in the bottom of the list for worst places to be a child, only has 36.8% of its teachers unionized.  New Mexico, recently voted the worst state to be a child, has 41% of its teachers unionized.  In contrast to this, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, which have some of the best educational systems in the nation, and are considered some of the best places for children to live all have over 80% of their teachers unionized.  Perhaps because the conditions are better for teaching in these states, they attract more talented people.  So maybe unions aren’t destroying education for children.  Apparently, people who have respect for others rights might be good teachers after all.