Teacher unions and an entrenched political bureaucracy are holding back the public schools in Hawaii and across the nation. For years teacher unions have been largely responsible for keeping the status quo in the public school system as America's students fail to learn the basic necessities of modern life including skills related to reading, writing and arithmetic.
One of the most celebrated programs outlining America's troubled schools is John Stossel's ABC News 20/20 report "Stupid in America". In his 40 minute report Stossel visited several public and charter schools, talked to parents, students, teachers, union leaders and some politicians. He concluded that teacher unions and lack of political will continues to hold back America's schools.
In Hawaii efforts to allow vouchers and create local school boards continue to fail. The local teacher union, HSTA has a tight grip on the Hawaii political system with their members instrumental in keeping union sympathizing Democrat politicos in power.
On February 16, Apple CEO Steve Jobs blasted teacher unions when he stated that "no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public schools until principals could fire bad teachers." Jobs continued to say, "I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way. This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."
"Off-the-chart crazy," says Jobs. This is echoed in Stossel's report. It was interesting to note that getting rid of bad teachers is very difficult in the union dominated profession. And that is only part of the problem. Watch the video.
Then call your politicians. It's time to make a change.
Additional Links:
- Stupid in America on YouTube.com (4o minute video)
- Apple CEO Jobs attacks teacher unions
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1 comments:
Hawai'i.
Where our high school graduates have the best 2nd grade education that money can buy.
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