do with exercising their political power. No wonder the benefit of the doubt that parents struck at the beginning of the pandemic has disappeared... They now find themselves unwittingly a party to the devil’s bargain the unions struck long ago with school administrators and Democratic politicians, the latter of whom fear losing the financial support and votes of union members. But as school closures and disingenuous union demands drag on, more and more Americans are finally seeing teachers unions for what they really are and have always been: a special interest group with no interest in the well-being of America’s children. But as school closures and disingenuous union demands drag on, more and more Americans are finally seeing teachers unions for what they really are and have always been: a special interest group with no interest in the well-being of America’s children. Christine Rosen is senior writer at Commentary magazine and a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.
return to in-person learning.” Parents across the country are organizing locally and on social media via hashtags like #reopenschools. A few state legislatures are vowing to withhold funding if schools don’t return to in-person instruction. Arizona’s governor announced that he would issue an executive order requiring public schools to offer in-person instruction for students that want it. Interest in homeschooling has also skyrocketed during the pandemic, and lawmakers in 28 states are now considering bills that would expand school choice options for parents. Ironically, by refusing to follow scientific evidence and the needs of students, teachers unions might succeed in keeping schools closed in the short term, but they will drive away students from public education in the long term. As Kerry McDonald, a scholar at the libertarian CATO Institute observed... A vocally progressive agenda and broad Democratic Party allegiance by powerful teachers unions, combined with the proliferation of more schooling alternatives resulting from the pandemic, may prompt more parents to opt out of their local district school for other options. For over a year, parents of school-aged children have watched as teachers who refuse to return to the classroom still get full pay, and, backed by powerful unions, make increasingly unreasonable demands that have nothing to do with keeping themselves or children safe from a virus, but everything to
American Consequences
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