NEA Wants to Leave Children Behind
From FoxNews:The National Education Association (search), the largest teachers union in the country, says that President Bush's vision for educating American children could not be more out of focus.
The NEA argues that every aspect of the No Child Left Behind (search) law, one of the biggest achievements in Bush's administration, almost certainly will leave some behind. To prevent that, the NEA is launching an aggressive lobbying effort to stop implementation of the law, trying unsuccessfully so far to enlist states in a lawsuit against the federal government.
Supporters of the law say the union opposes the measure because it sets up new teacher qualifications as well as requires remedial work for poorly performing students and an annual report card for every public school in America.
Matt's Chat
I think this has more to do with the fact that the President won one. The NEA, as Mark as pointed out before, is not an organization that has the best interests of the education field in mind; but rather the NEA is a union with a liberal agenda. They don't care if your kids are learning; all they care about is making it easier for them to get their message out while crushing any and all dissent.No Child Left Behind is a bi-partisan law that has a real good chance of getting education to turn it around. I wish the President had been able to include some of the more aggressive components; but in the spirit of cooperation, some sacrifices were made. Remember, Teddy Kennedy worked with the President on this law...
Mark's Remarks
I will probably catch fire for this, as I am a teacher, but quite frankly, the NEA, like most conglomerate unions, is in bed with so many special interests it is ridiculous. They claim to care about children, as most teachers REALLY DO, but the leadership is only looking out to care for themselves. That is why they are against higher standards for teachers, they do not want to have to work. They have consistently undermined education in this country for so long. Rather than teach, they have decided to advocate policy in wide ranging areas. Why does a TEACHER UNION need to have a committee on international policy of the US government? What does that have to do with protecting the interests of teachers?
The NEA is nothing more than profiteers. You see, before the government got involved with things like NCLB, the NEA was and would continue to be in charge of teacher testing. And they were getting all sorts of fun kickbacks from testing companies and the like. That is why the NEA for a time was so supportive of increased standards on students, teachers and schools. The NEA would receive some nice money for its PAC.
The NEA is like most super bloated unions. They no longer care about the average teacher. Most teachers want to see something done, and want our children to succeed. The NEA is only concerned about the NEA. They have stood in the way of increasing our students' success for years. They are nothing more than a massive profiteering exercise, who profit even as teachers' salaries continue to lag behind. However, you will note that the NEA's executive board is some of the highest paid in uniondom. Yet, what have they done? Except to marginalize teachers into another liberal voting bloc, to not stay out of politics, but to become a liberal special interest? To just ask for more money thrown at education, and no real solutions?
The NEA, is not looking out for our children. They are not even looking out for most teachers. They are only looking out for their own higher-ups and the liberals who pander to them.
