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” although it may initially have done good things like getting teachers’ pay raised and long hours shortened and retirement benefits increased “

Something the Japanese teachers’ union ( and I use the term union very loosely ) has not done ...plus teachers are not held accountable over here either . I know because I work with some of the most incompetent English teachers in the world at JHS .

determined that teachers should be held at least as accountable as butchers, auto mechanics, plumbers, and shoe salesmen: If their product isn't what you're paying for, you quit paying for it!

Leftism is simply a war on choice, and thus a war on quality.
When they prattle about "quality health care," they are simply deflecting you from the obvious fact that governmentizing health care (or anything else) is all about demanding that it be cheap. Not economical, which would imply good value for the price, but cheap.
Nothing could be more inevitable than that quality goes down without competition for a reputation for quality. We don't need teacher-union health care, we need free-market education instead.

Major case in point: Research shows that, instead of really improving its education, America is slipping drastically in relation to other (and often much poorer) countries. Test scores in crucial areas like math and science and technology and economics – and even reading and literacy levels – have been steadily dropping!
I don't see Pat mentioning the effect of all of those children of illegal immigrants on test score results. Doesn't Pat think that they pull the test score average down? And now, special ed students are being required to take regular tests. Does Pat think they bring test score averages down?

I guess that Pat doesn't know that the US is one of the few nations that tests ALL students. Other countries only test students who are tracked for higher education. No wonder US scores fare poorly against other nations.

Does Pat know that, in Texas, at least, we're educating ALL students as thought they are college material? There's nothing in our public schools for kids who aren't college material. Schools used to supply coursework for alternative careers. No more.

There's a whole lot Pat and the public don't realize.

I do not and never have belonged to a teacher's union. I wouldn't join NEA if they gave me free membership.