[Captainpaintball]

How? I have a couple of friends that are teachers. They are young, dumb, and unaware about the union they belong to.

[doug from upland]

Go to the union rep and demand to know how much of the dues paid is going to collective bargaining and how much is going to political activity. Demand to fill out a paper requesting a refund of that being used on political activity. The union thugs will scream but if the teacher is persistent, the money will be refunded.

[EdReform]

"How? I have a couple of friends that are teachers. They are young, dumb, and unaware about the union they belong to."

Have them check out the following (and pass the info along to parents and to students who are considering or are already education majors):

Association of American Educators
25201 Paseo de Alicia, Suite 104
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
Phone: 949-595-7979 or 1-800-704-7799
Fax: 949-595-7970
Email: info@aaeteachers.org
Website: www.aaeteachers.org

Please note that the AAE is not a union. It is a professional association. Annual dues are $125 per year for teachers (includes $2 Million liability insurance - one of the reasons teachers join the NEA or AFT is for liability insurance). Student, retired educator, and associate/support memberships are $25 per year.

Here are some links that will be of interest to teachers (and parents):

"Grading the NEA - What Every Teacher Needs to Know About The National Education Association: A Special Report" by Perry L. Glanzer, Ph.D. & Travis R. Pardo (http://www.family.org/gradingthenea/news/a0012243.html)

"The Impact of Unionism on the Quality of Public Education" by David Denholm (http://www.psrf.org/doc/art2.html)

"Teacher Unions and Parent Involvement" (http://www.educationpolicy.org/EPIseries/parent-bklt.htm)

[Eska]

I really don't think most of the teachers out there are all that excited about the NEA's political platform, but it's the only organization teachers have to protect them from lawsuits, ect. Break up a fight in the classroom and you can be sued nowadays. School boards are not going to award teachers salary increases on merit or for any other reason; nature of the game. So most teachers feel they do need a union to protect them and they will never gain any form of compensation from the fairness of their school district.

In my school district, teachers are required to have a 5th year degree plus about 20 extra credits inorder to start at 31,000. Close to 6 years of school. Low pay and compensation is a major issue to teachers also. they have kids to raise too. This is the reason why so many leave education for the private sector after a couple of years.

Think what you may, but Washington's plan is to federalize education and cut the local control out of the picture. Then you watch what happens. The feds will dictate what your child believes, mind control. Even Bush wants to be the education president, throwing money in every direction.

I sure wish more conservatives could spend some time in the shoes of a teacher inorder to see what is really happening within education in America