Coming from Illinois and from teaching, I have a natural pro-union bias. I think people SHOULD have a say in their working conditions and protection from arbitrary administrative decisions designed to cut costs rather than educate children, I even believe in a decent retirement. I remain baffled that more Americans don’t put energy into ensuring that they can go fishing when they reach 70 years of age, instead of passing out shopping carts.

The prevailing wisdom seems to be that The Democratic Party is the party of unions. But I believe we are living in the past when we assert this “truth.” If the democrats are your friends, guys, I’d hate to meet your enemies. Where are the unions now? The democratic candidate essentially threatened to eliminate the whole coal industry– Yes, I understand the environmental forces in play — and I never heard a true pro-union word during that whole election. Maybe I missed that tiny offer of support, but my husband had political news on in the background for most of the election cycle.

Teacher readers, under the last administration, charter school numbers have exploded. I stand against the crowd in having less trouble with that fact than many public school teachers. If the public schools in my district were abysmally awful — as is the case in some areas — I’d elect to home school or find a charter or private school. Our children deserve the best education we can offer them. But again, where was that democratic support for improving public schools? How much of that support was channeled to the Charter Movement instead? Why? I believe our public officials decided that supporting charters looked to be cheaper than upgrading public schools.

So now we have President Trump. I recommend trying to communicate with his administration. Yes, he’s pro-charter. But the other guys were also pro-charter. Yes, the democrats were familiar and the familiar feels safe. But did education improve during President Obama’s time in office? Honestly? I watched my district foundering during that time, saw the state effectively take us over and ended up forced to regularly give the Yellow Tests of Doom because they matched the Common Core, rather than my poor, lost, bilingual students.

(Click on pic for a better view.)

Eduhonesty: Kirk/Spock in 2020? I don’t know where we are going and some portents seem alarming. But if Trump attacks state and federal oversight, not to mention the army of employees hired under No Child Left Behind who have to justify their existence, we may end up considerably ahead. We need to return to local control of our classrooms. So let’s hope for the best.