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March 12, 2008

Monsters in Your Child's Classroom

The misnamed “Center for Union Facts” is looking for monsters: its newest million-dollar anti-union campaign is seeking nominations for America’s “10 Worst Teachers.” The winners will be offered $10,000 each to quit teaching and let the group use their name and reasons for their inclusion on the list in advertising. I’ve written about this group before, here and here. I’m not a fan. And I also think this new campaign smacks of negativity.

I have a very simple question for the Center for Union Facts: In what world do you improve quality by focusing on failure? Normally, if you want to improve something you try to seek out and reward success and use that to inspire further success. If your concern really was ensuring America’s children receive a quality education from excellent teachers, it seems to me you might consider having a nationwide contest to find the ten best teachers, give each one a $10,000 bonus, and then publicize their stories far and wide, telling other teachers how to improve their teaching. You might even try a teacher-oriented campaign urging teachers' union members to hold their unions accountable for protecting teachers who are harming kids. After all, unions are mini-democracies. The teachers actually could vote the scoundrels out.

The truth is, this group's primary goal is to destroy public education and bust the teachers' unions. So they are spending a million dollars telling Americans that their precious children are in the care of monsters - and urging them to report those monsters to their organization (for what sort of future harrassment I can only guess).

Why so many Americans embrace such creative hatred is beyond me. Imagine where we would be as a nation if we were pouring that level of financial resources and creativity into something positive.

Posted by Becky at March 12, 2008 02:20 PM