Teachers' unions starting to feel the heat?

"Everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it."
It's a tired line, one having made the rounds so much, it has lost its humorous zing. Here in Minnesota we have to pretty much just hunker down and accept the weather anyway. It's March so things can only get better.
We complain about the complicated tax code the same way. Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has some good ideas about that. The ideas might not see the light of day because, to use another tired old line, "they make too much sense." The folksy former governor of Arkansas has to be content just hosting a curious hybrid political/entertainment show on Fox News.
While weather and taxes seem entrenched as sources of annoyance, there may be hope in connection with another popular irritant: teachers' unions. Something seems to be in the air in terms of challenging them. There's the celebrated Rhode Island case of a school district telling its entire teaching staff to take a hike. Might this episode become comparable to Ronald Reagan firing the nation's air traffic controllers?
Ultimately it's about power and who can cultivate and use it. Our public school teachers' unions have been very good at this. Teachers are articulate and very good at advocacy. They talk about the most wholesome of objectives in our society - education - as if it was their charge to defend and build it. It is not their charge. All the broad and altruistic talk is a guise, but they emphasize it so much they end up believing it themselves.
As with all unions, their charge is to look out for the parochial interests of members. Teachers want what we all want: the highest salary that can be obtained, a work environment with minimal anxiety, and boundaries that allow them to enjoy a maximum amount of time off. Make no mistake, these are all admirable objectives. It's just that they are elusive for most of the rest of us.
I habitually watch the "Morning Joe" TV program in the early morning, and there is a drumbeat from the show's host (Joe Scarborough, former Florida congressman) questioning the teachers' unions. He is unrelenting. Considering that, along with the Rhode Island "shot across the bow," indeed maybe something is in the air.
I have always come across people who are disgusted with teachers' unions. One would think that the prevalence of such thought would start putting some chinks in the teachers' armor. But it has always seemed like complaining about the weather. Teachers have always been so mobilized to get their message across. Another problem is that nearly all of us have made friends with teachers in a way that makes us admire their personal qualities. Parents find that some teachers have been quite inspiring. No one intends to indict all teachers or even to indict them as a group. Rather, the idea is to disassemble the political, lobbying apparatus that pushes the teachers' most parochial and least idealistic/altruistic aims.
I'm writing this because there does seem to be a rising chorus. So I found it interesting that the March 9 Star Tribune included a lengthy op-ed piece that really went after Education Minnesota, our state's teacher advocacy organization. Three people teamed to write this: Don Samuels, Chanda Baker and Sondra Samuels. They put their toe in the water cautiously, predictably, because a frontal assault on teachers' unions is still somewhat rare. Right off the bat they conceded that Education Minnesota President Thomas Dooher cares about education and our communities. The second sentence stated "we all know many wonderful teachers in Education Minnesota's ranks."
After getting their toe in the water, they got more frank and direct: "Dooher stands defiantly in the school entrance, horn in hand, blocking any innovation" that would help kids who have socioeconomic limitations.
The discussion has ratcheted up a notch with Minnesota's failure to be a finalist for "Race to the Top" funds. This failure has been laid at the doorstep of the teachers' union, in the minds of many. Dooher stood firm on some narrow union positions, deeming them more important than the aim to get those funds (up to $250 million of the $4.35 billion competition). For crying out loud, the state teachers' union's stance was even contrary to President Barack Obama, who is judged so progressive that the right wing pulls its hair out constantly. Just watch Glenn Beck on Fox News.
Unions were a big part of Obama's rise politically. But Education Minnesota isn't impressed. Not inclined to compromise, this in spite of the fact that, as pointed out by the op-ed's authors, almost 90 percent of the state's school districts and charter schools supported Obama's education innovations.
That 90 percent wasn't enough to slay the state teachers' union dragon. In Rhode Island, the dragon was slayed in a draconian way. It's unfortunate that such a meat cleaver remedy has to be considered. Teachers' unions have historically found ways to get their rhetoric impressed on the public. Primarily this is by suggesting that the unions' overriding purpose is to look out for education. Hey, it's called "Education Minnesota," isn't it? What do you have against education?
There is a word for this and it's "naivete."
Joe Scarborough doesn't buy any of the union spinning. In today's media environment, which is so transformed by the new communications, it's harder to pull the wool over people's eyes. We may be seeing a momentum shift in favor of the people who demand more accountability and real world mechanisms in education.
It's nothing personal, teachers. Some of the people I most admire are from the ranks of you folks.
-Brian Williams - Morris Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com