Teachers Union President Deems Education Too Complex for Tax-Paying Rubes - Kyle Olson - Townhall Conservative

Teachers Union President Deems Education Too Complex for Tax-Paying Rubes - Kyle Olson - Townhall Conservative

Teachers Union President Deems Education Too Complex for Tax-Paying Rubes
Kyle Olson

Dec 21, 2011

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It’s so reassuring to have the intellectual elites in our nation’s teachers unions, like Sandy Hughes of Tennessee, looking out for us rubes.

Hughes, a local union president, is pitching the idea that school board membership be limited to people who “have worked in the education field,” because the issues at hand are “so complex” and too complicated for average citizens.

In other words, all will be well if taxpayers just get out of the way and let the wise and wonderful union folks run our schools, no questions asked. All we have to do is keep paying the taxes, then mind our own business.

This is a perfect example of the snobbery and arrogance that is so pervasive in the public education establishment.

A stay-at-home mom that wants to be on the board? Sorry. Business owners who know how to control labor costs and balance budgets? They don’t have the right skill set, according to Hughes. Public education is too "complex" for them.

Hughes didn’t happen to mention the 80% graduation rate in her county, the 52% of 3-8 graders who aren't proficient in reading or the 62% who aren't proficient in math. Perhaps she thinks those statistics are acceptable, and the public school accept them, too.

There's another issue at play here. Most communities throughout the nation elect school board members. Teachers unions throughout the nation provide millions of dollars in campaign contributions to get their hand-picked candidates elected, then lo and behold, they negotiate juicy, expensive contracts with their pet board members.

Union leaders have clearly thought this through. Some have actually produced How-To manuals, such as the Michigan Education Association’s “Electing Your Employer – It’s as easy as 1-2-3!” In it, the union details every step necessary to elect union-friendly school board members.

The only problem is that, with a board full of union supporters, nobody is looking out for the interests of students and taxpayers. But of course, people who aren’t dedicated to the union agenda have no business on school boards, according to Hughes. We obviously don’t understand the process. It’s all too “complex” for us.


Tags: Teachers Unions , Public School , Media and Culture , Education

Kyle Olson
Kyle is founder and CEO of Education Action Group Foundation, a non-partisan non-profit organization with the goal of promoting sensible education reform.
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Lonnie Wrote: 1 minute ago (1:09 PM)
As a member of the Medical Staff at our Community Hospital I served on the Board of Directors for 9 years. Following Hughes logic, only physicians should serve on Hospital Boards, and I can tell you that would be a disaster. You do not need to know how to operate on a body part to know how to run a hospital. Ms Hughes is just smart enough to be a danger to those around her and no apparent understanding about how or why boards operate.
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Moonbat Exterminator Wrote: 4 minutes ago (1:05 PM)
Collective bargaining is supposed to be an adversarial process with two independent parties, labor and management, each protecting its own interests. When the independence of the sides is compromised, the process becomes a corrupt collusion. That is the reason why public employee unions should be outlawed. If anything, anyone with any direct or familial connection to a school employee should be inelegible for serving on a school board.
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M444ss Wrote: 25 minutes ago (12:45 PM)
"This is a perfect example of the snobbery and arrogance that is so pervasive in the public education establishment."
Giving Ms Hughes the benefit of the doubt - that she is poorly educated rather than a liar and cheat, this is also a clear example of the failure of our education system. Just like the governor that recently hoped aloud that we would allow members of Congress to remain in office beyond their terms without an election, Ms Hughes has no understanding of the founding principles of our nation, one of which is the notion that government is at the discretion of The People rather than an elite group of supposed know-it-alls somehow better equipped to direct our lives than we are.
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Hannah Wrote: 55 minutes ago (12:15 PM)
Come on now, folks. The educrats are the education experts. Our job is to shut up and pay our taxes. What could be more simple? Perhaps the union thugs.
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Don't Tread On Me Wrote: 1 hour ago (12:03 PM)
The whole idea behind school boards to begin with, was to have the overall policy & the finances of a public school system controlled by reps of all the stakeholders in the local community, NOT just the professional educracy.

Would you e.g. require that SB members must have children currently in public school, & deny that others in the community have a legit interest, & talents & insights to offer the board?

It is long, long past time to recognize that unions have become a very statist racket, & the special privileges they've enjoyed are long overdue to be cut off. Who was the prominent teachers' union boss who said something to the effect that he'll concern himself with serving the schoolchildrens' interest when they pay union dues?
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LEVI Wrote: 1 hour ago (11:48 AM)
"Those who can do, those who can't teach." As a top five per-center, She's no smarter then I am and without real life experience she's a cripple. Teachers, like politicians, shouldn't be allowed to enter the field until they have been out in the real world. Most of them, if they haven't "been there and done that" shouldn't teach. They have no experience to draw from except hearsay evidence, which doesn't hold up even in a court of law. In all my years of schooling, I can count the educators that I respected on the fingers of one hand. Most were an absolute waste of skin who did nothing more then provide the material. None understood they first had to teach the student to think. Rote learning ruled. Time for a major overhaul of the system.
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Dale Wrote: 1 hour ago (11:34 AM)
As a retired private sector employer a can say with confidence, NEVER NEVER hire an ex-government employee. They are absolutely worthless. All they understand is entitlements. Touch their desk and they believe they deserve their pay, NO WORK NECESSARY.

My wife is still working and she and her employer hired a government reject even though I warned them of my experiences. The lady never worked a full day, and has since been fired. Now they hired another one that until two years ago had been in the private sector, they mistakenly though not long enough to become government unionized. Yet less than 4-weeks and the red flags have surfaced. There is nothing stated in her resume that she can actually do or is willing to do.
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Junco Wrote: 1 hour ago (11:21 AM)
Mayhaps Sandy Hughes was educated beyond her entellegentz?
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Vicki Wrote: 1 hour ago (11:12 AM)
"In other words, all will be well if taxpayers just get out of the way and let the wise and wonderful union folks run our schools, no questions asked. All we have to do is keep paying the taxes, then mind our own business."

This made me laugh .... my daughter it having issues at her university. When I asked what the problem was, I was made to fill out paperwork, then still was not told. Their general stance was just as you've said here .... "write the checks and shut up."
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loadstar Wrote: 2 hours ago (10:54 AM)
I saw Randi Weingarten (ugly wench!) debate Michelle Rhee about how to improve education...it was not a fair fight. Weingarten is not stupid, but she is infused with and emotes the crippling group think union mentality--> always obfuscate and lie about the REAL union agenda and obstructionism.

The union mentality and agenda and the best interests of students are simply diametrically opposed.
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tibby Wrote: 2 hours ago (10:36 AM)
This is why I home-schooled.
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loadstar Wrote: 1 hour ago (11:48 AM)
We also largely home schooled with GREAT results-- 780 and 750 verbal SAT's, and pretty high math (700+) as well.

Home schooling simply blows away public schooling, AND the home schoolers excel in EC and group endeavors, including when they segue to good colleges.

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loadstar Wrote: 1 hour ago (11:49 AM)
the vibrant, proven homeschool alternative

Academic Performance--

* The home-educated typically score 15 to
30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.

* Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.

* Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is NOT related to their childrens' academic achievement.

* Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is NOT related to academic achievement.

* Home-educated students typically score comfortably above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges require for admissions.

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Stephen Wrote: 3 hours ago (9:58 AM)
School boards are elected. Restricting their composition to a particular class would constitute disenfranchisement, a fundamental restriction on our rights. It's bad enough that nearly every school district is raising school/property taxes every year; imagine if we had a bunch of NEA bosses on them! Sky's the limit!
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oriole999999 Wrote: 3 hours ago (9:57 AM)
The perception that intellectual elites have a arrogant attitude toward the 'People' is seeing the obvious, and it has been that way for many many many years.
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Ev Wrote: 3 hours ago (9:37 AM)
Educational elites, union bosses and Phds hold the nation hostage with their Byzantine rules and buzzwords that us mere mortals aren't privy too...I've been a school teacher for over forty years and it ain't a pretty sight in the classroom....what the elites and unions don't screw up the parents do with their Oprabama self-esteem pass-the-buck irresponsible breeding...coming up when I received the paddle in school, I was not emotionally scarred for life, but humiliated that I had been behaving badly and had remorse enough to not repeat fool stuff twice...when I started teaching corporal punishment was still in effect, and those kids made it fine too...
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Norm Wrote: 3 hours ago (9:29 AM)
Lets carry what Ms Hughes wants one step further. Since she thinks only people that served in education should be on the school board lets also require people that vote to at least have a rudimentary understanding of government and economics. I think it is time we initiate a literacy test for voting. Also only taxpayers have the right to vote.
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T Wrote: 2 hours ago (11:03 AM)
Agreed. And I would refine "taxpayer" to mean those who CONTRIBUTE more tax dollars than they collect - with VERY LIMITED EXCEPTIONS. (Soldiers, Firefighters and policemen - because they are putting their lives on the line.) That means no politicians, no teachers in the public systems, no welfare beneficiaries, etc...

ie: people with their hands already in the pot should not vote themselves a larger portion of the pot.

obama delenda est
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Al Wrote: 4 hours ago (9:01 AM)
Just another reason to disband unions and their bloated self esteem
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RamonAdams Wrote: 5 hours ago (8:03 AM)
The most effective managers I ever worked under were both women, neither had even a rudimentary understanding of what we were doing. So you could not make them understand why something they wanted you to do was not possible. After a short while you just did it, since arguing was pointless.
We did some unnecessary work, but mostly had a well-run efficient organization.
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RamonAdams Wrote: 5 hours ago (8:04 AM)
Being directed by non-organization members is not necessarily a bad thing.
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binc Wrote: 5 hours ago (8:09 AM)
Ah Ramon, how many husbands have ultimately resorted to just doing it and not arguing. Women had to learn a long long time ago how to wrap men's brains into pretzels because of the lack of upper body strength.
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Joe Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:27 AM)
The pay of teachers and other school employees is set at the state level by the state legislatures and local school boards have little or nothing to do with setting teacher pay. Local boards can set up salary schedules for employees. They can give the employees the exact amount mandated by the state legislature or they can reduce the amount paid to new teachers and use that money to increase the pay of more experienced teachers as they more up the ladder. The total amount going to employees either way is the exact amount authorized by the state legislature.
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RamonAdams Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:53 AM)
Joe
Maybe things have changed, but 25 years ago. I worked in a rural welfare program, and there were lots of nearby school districts. There was a huge variation in teacher's pay from district to district. Some school districts paid their teachers wages that were so low that the teacher's spouse was eligible for welfare.
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Frank Wrote: 4 hours ago (8:31 AM)
Don't know what state you live in but in my state the wages are set by each individual school board. You probably live in one of those semi-socialist east coast liberal failed ventures.
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Joe Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:18 AM)
Most educators that serve on local school boards come from the administrative side. Most school administrators do not belong to teachers unions and have to deal with them throughout their careers so they do not follow the union's agenda. 99% of the issues school boards deal with have nothing to do with the pay of school employees. While it is great to have some board members with first hand experience with educational issues there should certainly be no requirement that one had to be an educator to serve on a school board.
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Frank Wrote: 4 hours ago (8:33 AM)
poppy kock. School board members are hand picked by the unions and then the teachers are given their marching orders. Solving the problem is easy. Make every state a right to work state. Require the unions to collect their own dues for those stupid enough to join.
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Moonbat Exterminator Wrote: 11 minutes ago (12:59 PM)
In many states, administrators have their own unions, separate from teachers' unions but equally corrupt.
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Okeefenokee Swampfox Wrote: 6 hours ago (7:04 AM)
Those who know how -- work. Those who don't know how -- teach. Ever wonder why America is in such a rapid decline when compared with other nations? Now you know.

Those teachers who don't know how to work now want more control over education so they can teach our children even less while they get paid more. If I could just buy a couple of teachers for what they're actually worth, then sell them for what they think they're worth . . . . .
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Joe Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:35 AM)
That is the most ludicrous "urban myth" ever stated by man. Obviously the man/woman who wrote that had never stepped in a classroom full of kids. I have seen many successful, well intentioned people come out of other fields, ie, engineering, business, etc. under some type of modified teacher certification program who become miserable failures trying to teach a room full of kids. Like the guy on "Swamp People" says, "you think its easy, you need to try it".
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Okeefenokee Swampfox Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:42 AM)
Joe -- The stories are legion of college students in economics, math, science and engineering programs who couldn't cut it and ended up in a teaching program. And yes, Joe, I have been a teacher and an instructor; I have also been a military test pilot.
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anarchyst Wrote: 6 hours ago (6:50 AM)
If private business had a "success rate" that rivaled that of the "public schools", they would be out of business in a hurry . . .
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Andre Wrote: 6 hours ago (6:38 AM)
What an excellent idea, lets adopt the union's standard and get rid of civilian oversight of the military, law enforcement and prison system too.
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puzny Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:19 AM)
Better yet, let's eliminate elections entirely. We dullards cannot possibly grasp the complexity of governing. We need smart people like Obama to do that for us.
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binc Wrote: 6 hours ago (6:30 AM)
As everyone knows, those teaching degrees are hard to get. Why degrees in engineering, medicine, physics etc. don't even begin to compare when it comes to the grueling and terribly difficult college courses and hours required for a teaching degree.
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d2lv Wrote: 5 hours ago (7:45 AM)
When I was in college, the School of Education was the last stop on exiting the university. If you could not make it in any other school Education was it. I got a teachers certificate as a back up (never used it) and the courses I took in Education were by far the easiest I took in getting my degrees.
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Ben Linus Wrote: 2 hours ago (11:03 AM)
That is a universal truth. Education shouldn't be a major.
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Boy, that's BIG!! Wrote: 7 hours ago (5:14 AM)
When they're not busy luring Billy and Becky into the coat closet, they're busy hiding the fact that "teachers", as a whole, have THE LOWEST SAT SCORES.
Teacher's "as a whole" is a wonderful, unintentional pun.
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Frank Wrote: 4 hours ago (8:26 AM)
Those that can do, those that can't work for governments. And the worst of those types teach.
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