I’m a teacher, so that’s the source of both my knowledge and my bias.
The fact that teachers are so low-paid shows the failure of the teachers’ unions in their first duty, which is to ensure the highest possible pay and benefits for its members. That’s what the Teamsters do, so Teamster employees are paid well above the market value of their education, skills, and ability.
Teamsters have always been associated with organized crime, but the typical UPS driver or warehouse picker who is a member is not a gangster.
The same holds true for teachers. Most of them are not hard-left activists. Far from it.
Most of them are women whose husband is the primary breadwinner, so they need not be overly concerned with pay raises. Like me, they join the union for benefits such as legal representation in the event of having our certificates threatened by a baseless allegation, or for the insurance, or to be represented when administration wants to take adverse action.
The typical teacher is not a radical adherent of the LBGT-Q Transfascist movement. They generally keep their opinions to themselves, and most often reflect the values of their families, not their union. Many are horrified at the idea of children being steered into the trans industry, but afraid to speak up because both Union and “Management” of the schools has drank deeply from the vat of the Trans-Aid.
Every teacher I know was disgusted by the failures of “online learning,” but none of them were surprised. We all meet in our little Brady Bunch Zoom meeetings and we all knew that we were going to struggle to have the kids learn the basics so that when the madness ended, the kids would not be so hopelessly behind.
