Most people agree that education is important, and that kids need to learn how to read, write and do math. The teachers unions seem to have the best interest of teachers and children as they fight for higher teacher salaries, lower class sizes and more resources, such as school nurses and/or social workers at schools. If you look at a recent National Education Association (NEA) report, it showed that salaries rose 4% in the 2022-2023 school year. Sounds like they’re doing their job.
Yet while union leaders may think they have the best interest in mind for kids and teachers, many families don’t believe so for several reasons, not the least of which is a curriculum they’re pushing that stands at odds with many family values. For instance, NEA’s 2023 recommended summer reading list included Gender Queer.
In California, a manual titled “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction” is designed to get teachers to contemplate their biases. Its instructors explicitly say teachers must focus on changing students’ behaviors and values as the best approach to teaching math. One value is to be empathetic toward non-white people because “white supremacy culture in the classroom” is pervasive and oppressive.
Empathy is an important virtue to teach. But so is accountability, which this new value system fails to embrace.
Importantly, many teachers in the unions don’t realize that in some cases, less than 10% of the dues they pay actually go toward helping their local situation. The majority of the dues go toward funding state and nationwide chapters as well as politicians - mainly, and possibly entirely, Democratic politicians.
In this interview, I speak with Aaron Withe, CEO of the Freedom Foundation, an organization that educates union members about the false narratives spread by the unions, and in particular for the purpose of this interview — the teachers unions. For instance, in the latest advertisement by the American Federation of Teachers, narrated by its president Randi Weingarten, the AFT tries to persuade voters into thinking Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are “out of touch” for trying to take away public schools and dismiss shootings as a “fact of life.” It’s hard to blame busy families for just thinking to themselves that indeed the GOP candidates are clueless and callous. In this interview, Aaron helps us see through those lies.
Aaron will join me at Culture, Religion & Technology, take II on October 28 in Miami along with Peter Thiel, James Lindsay, Ryan Walters, Paul Martino and Hamlet Yousef and many more. WeOverMe subscribers receive a discount code. Don’t forget to subscribe!
Highlights from the interview:
Math equity in California, where about 5.8 million kids attend K-12. In the summer of 2023, the California State Board of Education adopted a new math framework as a step toward “equity.” It’s a feel-good word that Aaron debunks as a euphemism for penalizing the highest achievers.
Teachers unions are pushing this “equity” curriculum across the country.
This curriculum is one of the reasons teachers drop out of the unions, but not the main reason. The main reason teachers leave the unions is economic.
A year ago, the Oregon Board of Education abandoned essential skill requirements for high schoolers (partly due to Covid, which hurt a lot of “marginalized” students). As a result, graduation rates skyrocketed. Oregon’s class of 2022 was the second highest high school graduation rate in the state. But almost two-thirds were NOT proficient in English and about 75% were not proficient in math. The larger goal of the teachers union is to not educate kids on reading and writing, but to become liberal voters in the future, according to Aaron.
In 2023, in Arkansas - SB 473 and in Tennessee - SB 281 were signed into law. The bills prohibit union dues from being automatically deducted from public school teachers’ salaries. There are still a number of states that wouldn’t pass such a bill because of the Democratic state legislators.
J.C. Bowman, executive director of union alternative Professional Educators of Tennessee, said this about the unions. “Their goal is not improved public education, but rather power, money and influence.” Aaron breaks down what fees go toward politics and lobbying.
Podcast: Aaron Withe on the teachers unions' lies and deceptions