Veteran urban public school teacher here. And I must point out that teacher unions have very little influence on what is being taught in the schools. Sure, they can huff and puff on the sidelines. And that’s about all they can do.
In my long career I was on quite a few curriculum committees. And never once was union imput asked for, or received.
What’s absolutely killing us are the university schools of education. They are now churning out totally insane administrators and consultants. These folks have little experience or knowledge regarding how kids actually learn.
Their goal is to convince school boards to include woke nonsense into the curriculum, and into the rules of discipline. In that they have been very successful.
So, honest question here, not trying to flame, but actually seeking your opinion: if the problem is what the ed schools are currently churning out, what explains the last thirty years of steadily declining educational standards?