The Selfishness Of The Left: L.A. Teachers Strike To Retain Power, Not Help Kids

What a liar

While not necessarily one of the biggest stories in the past couple of weeks, with the current government shutdown becoming the longest in history, Trump hosting Clemson football players and serving them fast food (which is an endearing and very likable gesture that is only attacked by embittered Leftists), and polls saying that most people blame the President for the shutdown but also want a wall more now than a year ago, the story of the L.A. teachers’ strike is somewhat buried among everything else.
 
However, it has been talked about to some extent, and I feel it is important to point something out: this strike is not about helping kids or improving the schools. It’s not even about the teachers’ most explicit demands of smaller class sizes (a wall could help with that regard, by the way), higher wages and more staff to support faculty. It’s about the political power the teachers’ unions in Los Angeles hold.
 
And this is not a wild allegation I am making without any evidence. This is admitted to by at least one teacher who wrote an op-ed for PBS titled: “Charter schools are draining LA’s public schools. That’s why I’m on strike.”
 
But before we continue, let me first give you a little bit of context.
 
This is a massive, 31,000 teacher walkout in Los Angeles public schools. As a result, roughly “two-thirds of children” are out of school, or at least not being taught, according to Breitbart.
 
The LA Times reports: “The walkout of 31,000 teachers union members proved to be the massive disruption hundreds of thousands of students and their families had feared. The vast majority of the district’s parents and guardians are low income, and many had to choose between missing work to watch their children or sending them into an unknown situation at school. While campuses remained open, the few adults present struggled to keep students engaged.”
 
So this walkout is having a tremendous negative impact on communities, many of whom are low-income families whose lives have now been made more difficult, as if they needed it.
 
And for what purpose? Outwardly, as I stated previously, for smaller class sizes (I wonder why that’s a problem in sanctuary state California), higher wages for teachers and additional support staff.
 
However, as the teacher from the op-ed writes, it’s largely about the impact charter schools have on public schools. In other words, they don’t like that non-unionized competitors are kicking their butts.
 
The teacher writes:
 
“I’m striking to stop charter schools from draining our schools. In addition to seeking lower class sizes, more counselors, nurses and librarians and a pay raise, the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is asking that LAUSD stop approving charter schools, which have seen a 287 percent increase in the district’s boundaries since 2008. The loss of enrollment across the district means a $600 million loss from our public schools every year."
 
"Due to our school’s low enrollment, an English teaching position was cut halfway through the fall semester. Charter schools are publicly funded but are not governed by a local district. In other words, charter schools run more like private schools with little oversight. Most charter school employees are not unionized; therefore approving more charter schools is one way to weaken the UTLA.”
 
I’m sorry, I thought you were on strike for the kids’ benefit. What benefit does it bring them to have the government close the door on better-run schools? What benefit does it bring them to quit teaching them for the sake of political power?
 
Actually, this is L.A., so it might actually be more beneficial for kids to not go to school at all than to be indoctrinated and brainwashed, now that I think about it.
 
But still, the general idea is that kids suffer whenever there is a teachers’ strike. And this one is largely, if not entirely, for the benefit of the union (as they usually are anyway, but I digress).
 
Even socialist darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) expressed her support for the striking teachers, saying: “These LA teachers striking against privatization + demanding smaller classrooms/more support for their students is a whole 2019 mood.”
 
I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean in this context, but that’s very clearly showing support for them and even acknowledging that the biggest reason for the strike is pure politics.
 
According to Breitbart: “Charter schools are especially favored by black and Latino families precisely because they offer an escape from failing public schools in the inner city – which, many argue, are failing partly because of the control the union enjoys.”
 
It’s not hard to see why the schools are failing. The unions are backed by the Democrat Party and recently defeated charter school advocate Marshall Tuck a second time in the race for state school superintendent in last November’s elections.
 
However, Breitbart notes that “charter school advocates won two seats in the L.A. Unified School District elections the year before. And last year’s Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME freed public employees from having to pay mandatory dues to the union.”
 
So the teachers’ unions in Los Angeles are losing a bit of their power, are gravely threatened by charter schools, and choose to go on strike over them, regardless of the pain they may cause low-income families in their communities.
 
The reason these teachers choose to strike, at least primarily, is for their own benefit, not that of the children.
 
And the worst part might actually come in the form that the LAUSD is already stretched very thin with regards to money. According to LA School Report, the organization’s plan to avoid going bankrupt and having the County take over is cutting 15% of staff.
 
So the teachers are making selfish demands for almost purely selfish reasons to an organization that is facing bankruptcy and would actually be a detriment to the teachers if it actually went bankrupt.
 
All for the purposes of the Democrat-backed unions to retain the power they’ve enjoyed for so long that has ruined L.A. public schools and was at least one of the biggest reasons for the surge of charter schools in the city.
 
In the meantime, while these children in adult costumes demand “justice”, actual children are left in the dust to be either taken care of by their parents who have to choose between working that day or taking care of their child or sending the kids to the schools anyway and hope for the best, knowing full-well that they won’t likely be taught anything.
 
All because these teachers want to retain their power over the education in the city. Instead of competing with charter schools to improve themselves, this is the route they chose.
 
For shame.
 
Philippians 2:3-4
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others.”
 
And please make sure to check out our free weekly newsletter. As the name suggests, it is a newsletter that comes completely free of charge. What you get is a compilation of the week’s articles sent right into your inbox. So make sure to check it out today!
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.