Posted by Rick Denney on January 16, 2003 at 16:56:59:
In Reply to: Re: for H.S. band directors posted by My Comment on January 16, 2003 at 16:12:15:
So, you get to choose your curriculum? You get to choose your textbook? You get to assign extra reading material? You have complete support from your administration in addressing student disruptiveness in the classroom, using whatever method you think will be effective? You are never challenged on the grades that you give? You have identified the influences of the Education Establishment (of which the NEA is but one manifestation) in your own education and made a determination of what you will keep and what you will discard? You can solely determine the criteria a student must satisfy to pass your course?
I'm sure any teacher could answer some of these in the affirmative. But I'd bet there are no teachers in any school, public or private, who can answer all of them affirmatively, at least below the college level. I would think all of these, though, would be a requirement to truly be a master of your teaching domain. The effects of the Education Establishment are not through persuasion of the teachers (except during their education courses while in college), but through manipulation of the political environment that sets the agenda for education. The prime directive of the NEA is as a lobby group--a special interest on behalf not of teachers, but of the education establishment.
My own engineering professional society has lobbied for many things that I disagreed with, and I see multiple effects of their activities on the profession. I can wish they had no effect on my practice, but they do. And my professional society is far less organized, focused, and powerful as a union such as the NEA. One similar characteristic: The size and compensation of the organization's staff has grown at a much faster rate than the membership itself.
Rick "who thinks union leaders are about as wonderful as corporate executives--some care for their people and products, but many just want the perqs and power" Denney