Sixteen months of destructive behavior is not enough. Selfish anti-science teachers unions aren’t yet done crushing society and students.
Schools are empty, with children and teachers back on vacation, but the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) haven’t taken a break.
America’s largest teachers union just wrapped up its annual meeting. Members are adopting new partisan policies that have nothing to do with helping children — from anti-Semitic statements to tracking down parents who oppose the race-based Marxism of critical race theory (CRT).
“To deny opportunities to teach truth about Black, Brown, and other marginalized races minimalizes the necessity for students to build efficacy,” the NEA claimed. “It is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society, including critical race theory.”
Teachers unions claim they have millions of taxpayer dollars ready to “defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history,” per AFT President Randi Weingarten, who clearly knows zilch about CRT.
The NEA and AFT hope to shut students out again this fall, or to have absurd rules to make schools inhospitable to learning.
“The NEA will call for mandatory safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations and testing for all students and staff before returning to face-to-face instruction in the fall, subject to medical exceptions in accordance with existing law, and will widely publicize this position via social media,” an action item says. “We will further call for and publicize that safety measures such as social distancing, masking, and proper ventilation be mandatory for all.”
Teachers long ago cut lines to get a vaccine, yet many still refused to work. They now have an infinitesimal risk of serious illness from COVID, thus should not have any say in school decisions regarding coronavirus or children’s health.
National union leaders gaslighted the American public last year into believing they wanted to open schools. But union bosses and Democrat politicians are still trying to shut them down.
Requiring vaccines in children for in-person instruction or masking and social distancing is insane. Children are not threatened in a significant way by COVID.
There are almost 80 million children in America. According to the CDC, fewer than 400 people under 18 died of COVID. Most were older children now eligible for the vaccine. While any death is tragic, 4,000 children fatally drown a year, but since we tolerate risk, children don’t wear flotation devices wherever they go.
Sensible school districts were safely operating in-person before the vaccines were available. And children did not die anywhere near the number teachers unions would have us believe. And yet fearmongers denied reality and claimed schools were death traps so they could continue locking doors.
“The contention in that NEA proposal, that we cannot reopen schools until we’ve vaccinated all the kindergarteners, is an asinine position that would greatly exacerbate the greatest setback to children’s education in American history,” Jim Geraghty wrote this week. “It’s fascinating that the education establishment is picking now of all times to have this giant fight about a controversial curriculum proposal, because it’s not like parents are full of adoration for teachers unions after last year.”
COVID is not a major problem facing children. While collecting paychecks, teachers unions are hurting vulnerable kids, like those with autism forced to wear a mask to protect against a near-zero risk of death, or those battling depression due to isolation, or those now way behind in learning. Low-income and minority students will continue to fall behind their peers in rural and suburban America, thanks to union bigotry.
While most school districts can ignore these unions, these leftist agitators still control Democrats from the school board and governor’s office to the White House and even the CDC.
Minnesota teachers already have the shortest school year in America, and currently are enjoying 100 more days off. Education Minnesota isn’t worried about kids; instead they’re pursuing more woke brainwashing and limiting contrarian views on serious matters.
Honest people may believe it’s impossible for teachers unions to keep gates locked in the fall, but in large liberal areas, the fight for open schools is not over.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
