Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Wrong about Teachers... Again

In response to "Politics Without Class: VEA Should Not Stage Partisan Support While On The Taxpayers’ Dime: posted 10/6/08)

The VEA is most definitely NOT a union. It is an professional association that has struggled mightily to advocate for teachers and students in the Old Dominion. Its sole concern is with the ADVANCEMENT of education, the betterment of students, and with support of teachers who are dedicated to the liberal education of the students of Virginia. The Association of American Colleges and Universities defines liberal education as

"a philosophy of education that empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a strong sense of value, ethics, and civic engagement."

The most political it can ever be is as a lobbyist in Richmond for the advocacy of teachers and students in Virginia.

The level of paranoia in the editor's comments is stark and his tone is aggressively partisan. It is, in fact, a simple, ignorant, partisan smear to even suggest that the VEA is a union engaged in inappropriate political activity. Anti-unionism is a right wing signature political issue. To base the whole article on a partisan lie negates the entire argument. To use this lie to accuse teachers (citizens with 1st amendment rights) of partisan political behavior is the ultimate in hypocrisy!

The writer and politicians in this area are very happy to promote blatantly political AND religious right wing policies in our schools. Educators are forced by to "teach the test" to or teach the discredited "abstinence only" sex education program. The "starve the beast" mentality of the anti-tax crowd forces the schools into overcrowding, squeezes teacher salaries, and discourages efforts to help CHILDREN achieve their true potential.

It would be good to remember the true value of education

"When asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated, Aristotle answered, 'As much as the living are to the dead.'" - Diogenes Laetius


as well as the truly monumental task faced by teachers today in uncertain and often un-supportive school environments.

"It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the word, than to rule a state." - William Ellery Channing


Liberal education is the antitheses of political propaganda. The religious and political agenda of the editor and his fellow conservatives is message control, the essence of political propaganda. To charge teachers with inappropriate political behavior because of their support of the democratic political process in the United States of America is simple partisan hackery and a tragedy foisted on the children of Virginia.