Sometimes they say the quiet part out loud. And in this case a union hack who agreed to speak with John Stossel about the “dangers” of giving students a choice in educational options let slip that kids getting a good education is not the point of public schools.
John Stossel: “why not trust the parents to decide what’s best for their kids?”
Teachers Union: “if I’m competing directly against you, then I have a vested interest in doing better than you”
John Stossel: “but isn’t that good?!”
Teachers Union: “not in education.” pic.twitter.com/OHARzU01Jh
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) September 27, 2022
And no, that quote is not taken out of context. If you watch Stossel’s entire piece it doesn’t get any better.
John Stossel has been around the block a few times and knows how to interview people, and he definitely knows how to get under the skin of people who consider liberty to be a danger to their power. And no group is threatened by consumer choice than public schools. They would go out of business if their monopoly on education funding were broken.
As a longtime advocate of school choice, Stossel is one of the great enemies of the teachers’ unions. Randi Weingarten, the queen bee of the American Federation of Teachers, won’t even talk to him any more. If you don’t recall, Weingarten was the union leader who helped shape the CDC’s and White House’s COVID policies at the height of the pandemic. She fought tooth and nail to keep schools closed, and largely succeeded in Blue states.
Severe learning loss was the result, of course. And that in turn is Weingarten’s current excuse for why the education establishment needs oodles and bundles of new cash. They cratered learning for kids, so they need more money to undo the damage, I guess. As if they have the slightest inclination to help kids actually learn.
More money is always the solution they tell us. And getting rid of white teachers, by the way:
This. “The same people who want to take down teachers unions and blame seniority are now defending it for white people. This is all made up by the right wing now.” – @greta_callahan @MFT59 https://t.co/y11edqHh71
— Randi Weingarten ???????? (@rweingarten) August 22, 2022
More freedom is the solution we should demand.
Public schools don’t want any competition because their product is mostly terrible. In a few wealthy areas the parents can bully the schools to do better than average, but most of the rest of us are forced to send our kids to second or third-rate schools. The only solution to this problem is empowering parents to choose better alternatives, not to give more money to the people currently failing.
Full disclosure: I do some work with a school choice organization called Catholic Education Partners. I am very proud of what we do and that we are a small part of the large movement to free kids from a failing public school monopoly system.
Freeing kids to get a good education? I can’t happen fast enough. And if we destroy the corrupt teachers’ unions in the process? Icing on the cake.
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