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What Teachers Really Think
Their union is out of step.
Friday, July 6, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT
Education Secretary Rod Paige had a wake-up call for the National Education Association during its convention in Los Angeles this week. He told the nation's largest teachers union that competition in education is inevitable. "It's tempting to pretend public schools are exempt from the law of supply and demand," he said. "They are not. This pretension will destroy our system."
Secretary Paige pointed out that while education spending is at a record high, it has had little effect: "For 35 years, we've tried to address our failing schools the same way. We've just given them more money, without focusing on results."
The union's delegates gave Mr. Paige respectful attention and then proceeded to consider the usual host of left-leaning proposals on the agenda. Among the actions made was the creation of a task force to determine if the NEA should formally support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender curricula in public schools. Teachers we spoke with were in wonder at the disconnect between the urgent call for action issued by Secretary Paige and the NEA's interest in social policy in schools.
Evidence keeps piling up that the national union isn't really representative of its 2.6 million members. For instance, only 59% of them voted for the union-backed Al Gore. This and other data come from a confidential survey of its own members that the NEA commissioned last November. Last week, the survey was leaked to the Education Intelligence Agency, a watchdog group.
The poll makes fascinating reading. Though national and state teachers unions give more than 95% of their PAC contributions to Democrats, the NEA's membership is quite diverse politically. Only 48% of members are Democrats, 24% are Republicans and 28% are independents. That explains why an NEA endorsement of a candidate like Mr. Gore isn't greeted with universal approval. While 57% of members said they were more likely to vote for a candidate recommended by the national union, 27% said such an endorsement would make them less likely to vote that way.
When asked if the NEA's materials on the 2000 elections presented candidates in a fair and balanced way, only 25% of GOP members and 36% of independents thought so. Indeed, only 62% of NEA Democrats thought the union's materials were fair and balanced.
The gap between the NEA's leadership and its members also showed up in a list of 10 issues members were shown and asked if it was important that the NEA "speak out" on them.
Members said that by far the least important of the 10 issues for the union to address was "private school vouchers," an issue the union has vociferously fought for years. Only 19% said it was "very important" to address vouchers and another 19% thought it was "somewhat important." But 22% said it was "not very important" and a surprising 39% said it was "not at all important." No doubt a majority of public school teachers oppose vouchers, but they certainly don't seem to think they are worth the jihad against them that their union bosses have mounted. |
