I feel the need to vent about our 'no voucher allowed' public education monopoly and its ill effects on students, parents and our nation as a whole.
When it comes to public education, We the People are indeed 'Sheeple,' as Jonathan Gruber once said when promoting the implementation of the intentionally misnamed Affrodable Care Act, aka ObamaCare.
So here goes, my fellow American People or Sheeple, as the case may be. In other words, if the shoe fits, wear it!
.........................................................................
Why do teachers and other members of the huuuuuuge and well paid public education 'establishment' favor government monopolies and oppose school vouchers for all, thus standing in the way of directly enabling and encouraging free market competition? Well, they do so because it's in their best and self interests to keep competitors away. They are anti-competition and died in the wool monopolists. That's why.
Consumers, aka students, parents and the public at large, on the other hand, would be better served and have their interests better protected by competition and free choice in the market for education. Taxpayer supplied vouchers are the answer, and they wouldn't cost one single penny. In fact, money could be saved.
Choice about whether and how to spend money MOM style are strong features of a competitive market focused and consumer driven economy. That's the American way or what I refer to as the MOM (my own money) way.
But in a government run and taxpayer funded costly and low quality education monopoly which is controlled by teachers and teachers unions, most parents and taxpayers continue to oppose taxpayer friendly low cost and high quality customer focused market competition. Why?
Why do we oppose free choice, better results and greater opportunities for our children? Why do we deny to them and our nation the opportunity to have a more capable workforce which in turn will lead to a stronger economy in which those very same children can work as adults?
Teachers are primarily interested in the well being of teachers. And teachers join unions to be represented when bargaining for higher pay and retirement benefits, fewer hours worked and improved working conditions. That's how they negotiate with the rest of We the People and our chosen government leaders. And that's why they pay union dues to union leaders.
It's not about the kids --- not at all. It's all about the teachers and other employees.
Teachers and their union leaders are not fiduciaries who are required to act in the best interests of the students, parents and taxpayers. They are self interested employees, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as we don't believe otherwise.
In straightforward language, neither teachers nor teachers unions exist to serve and protect the general well being and best interests of the students, their parents and the community as a whole.
They are self interested employees in a government managed monopoly and therefore are essentially unaccountable to students, parents and the taxpaying public at large.
Notable & Quotable: Teacher Tenure has this to say about teacher tenure and the real interests of teachers:
"From an amicus brief submitted June 7 to the California Supreme
Court . . . challenging teacher tenure in public schools . . . :
The
statutes at issue impair the fundamental right to education. They
categorically prioritize the job security of teachers—regardless of
their competence—over the educational needs, interests, and rights of
California school children. . . .
The upshot of handicapping the ability to efficiently identify and
remove grossly ineffective teachers, and providing institutional bias in
favor of incompetent teachers, is to contract the marketplace of ideas
within public schools by institutionalizing educational mediocrity. The
California Constitution, however, establishes public schools for the
benefit of children, not teachers, and the Education
Clause talks about the right to public education as “essential to the
preservation of the rights and liberties of the people,” not as a right
essential to the economic security of the teachers selected by the State
to make that right a reality."
Summing Up
Government managed monopolies are high cost, low quality, anti-competitive, anti-free market and anti-consumer.
Teachers are employees who belong to monopolies, aka government protected teachers unions.
Teachers unions exist solely to represent the interests of their due paying members, the teachers.
Acting in the best interests of the students, their parents and the public at large are not part of their agenda.
We the People have to wake up, and our priorities have to change. The best interests of today's students and tomorrow's adults are at stake.
The future of America is on the line.
That's my take.
Thanks for letting me vent. Bob.
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