Editor’s Note: The following was originally printed by United Families International. It is republished here with permission. Click here to go to United Families International website.
According to the federal government, there are 3.1 million full-time teachers in the public school system. The National Education Association (NEA)—the nation’s largest labor union—claims 3.2 million members. Obviously, not all teachers are union members and not all union members are teachers, but the math makes it clear that the NEA is a voice to be reckoned with, not only in legislative lobbying and policy crafting but also in the hewing and shaping the curriculum that daily guides our children’s thought processes.
The NEA’s national meeting has about 8,000 delegates who represent most segments of professional and retired preK-16 educators. Their website claims that when they meet, they are “the largest deliberative assembly in the world.” At that meeting, they vote on strategic plans, legislative programs and a long list of New Business agenda items.
Long established as a “honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students,” the agenda items passed at this year’s national convention clearly positions the group as vanguard leaders of the latest trending left-wing social issues.
Starting at the top of the list, New Business Item A, states:
“The NEA will develop educational materials for its state affiliates and members about the potential dangers of so-called ‘religious freedom restoration acts’ or RFRAs, which may license individuals and corporations to discriminate on the theory that their religious beliefs require such actions. The materials will describe the current legal landscape at the federal and state level, provide model state legislative amendments to modify existing laws to prevent such discriminatory applications, provide talking points for advocacy, and link to existing resources for members and state affiliates to use in efforts to prevent the use of such laws as a license to discriminate.”
Yes, you read that right. According to the Union, ‘religious freedom restoration acts’ (RFRAs) are not only dangerous, but need to be eliminated because they are nothing more than a vehicle for a legal “license to discriminate.”
New Business Item B (NBI-B) is equally mind blowing. It addresses the inherent evils of “institutional racism.” This term is responsible for a long list of horribles including all the chaos in Ferguson, Missouri last summer. The basic concept is simple enough—white people are bad. NBI-B, was so important that it was introduced by the Board of Directors and passed the body unanimously.
(On another related aside, in an effort to address the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS in teens, the White House just updated their recommendations for school sex education classes calling for “accessible information and education resources about transmission and prevention for people of all sexual orientations and ages, including school-aged youth,” and included the recommendation that children be educated about, and safe spaces be created for, those with existing HIV diagnosis because, “discrimination can be a consequence of stigma and may occur when unfair actions are made against individuals on the basis of their belonging to a particular stigmatized group.HIV-related stigma can be confounded with or made more complicated by stigma related to substance use, mental health, sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity, or sex work.” Sadly we all know that it is a short walk from being a White House “recommendation” to a Department of Education requirement, to becoming a State and local district curriculum implementation.)Papa John’s Pizza Out, Planned Parenthood In
The NEA also voted to take a formal stand against all things Koch brothers; Papa John’s pizza; the Confederate flag; the transportation of crude oil; and of course vouchers. Members should also “oppose legislative efforts to pass rules or laws that make it impossible for family planning clinics to carry out their mission,” so a thumbs-up for Planned Parenthood. But another thumbs down for GMOs, because of their “potential environmental impacts, and related health concerns.” (Curious that finding ways to efficiently and economically feed starving people should be opposed by a group who claims to want to help the oppressed.)
No one can blame teachers en masse. Unless they live in a right-to-work state or have paycheck protection laws, not being a member of the union isn’t always a choice and even if you are in a state with those protections, it is generally an opt-out rather than an opt-in process to get out of having the dues automatically extracted from monthly checks to fund the union agenda carte blanche.
And sadly teachers generally can’t do much more than parents can about prescribed and required curriculum—a situation that is becoming very frustrating to many educators.
It is no secret that the education agenda has been leaning left for years if not decades. Once anything starts to lean, it is difficult to stop it from toppling over all together. Perhaps the best and possibly only recourse against this breakdown is to increase parental rights in the schools.
Many states are stepping forward to prevent this type of over reach. For example, the State of Utah passed a bill this year titled Protections on Parental Guidance in Public Schools. The new law requires a school to obtain prior written consent from a parent before a child is instructed in any sex-ed curriculum and if the parent chooses, the requirement must be waived with no penalty to the student’s academic or citizenship grade. The law also says that if a “secondary student, determines that the student’s participation in a portion of the curriculum or in an activity would require the student to affirm or deny a religious belief or right of conscience or engage or refrain from engaging in a practice forbidden or required in the exercise of a religious right or right of conscience” then the student can request not to participate or ask for an alternative assignment.
This sort of legal language does not solve the problem of the rising tide of progressive and liberal ideas our children must deal with every day, but it does give parents and families some ability to resist the undertow and defend their values in the public school arena.
And these days, every little bit helps.
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JanisAugust 26, 2015
All 8,000 voted for this? All 8,000 people want to discriminate? I wonder what will happen with the Islamic religion not to mention Christianity. Wake up parents. Get out of the public schools - of course until it is mandated by the government - which will come sooner than you think.
Alan BesteAugust 24, 2015
As a retired teacher, I was involved in NEA activities. Every 2 years I would attend the NEA-RA, the convention mentioned here. I would often come home questioning my membership. But I went because I was able to speak my viewpoints before the body of membership. The RA is large, but very democraticly run assemblage. UNFORTUNATELY, the huge percentage of attendees vote very left. The organization is also geared to allow a louder voice to the left-leaning membership. Do not judge America's teachers by the NEA's resolutions and New Business Items. Do not even judge all NEA members by these issues either. Many, like me, maintain their membership fornthe good done at the local, and sometimes state, levels. Many, ifnthey could would opt out of NEA if possible. Fortunately, the actual power of NEA is far less at our local schools than most people would have you think. Weak, silly school administrations would be the same without the NEA. It's the courts and groups like the ACLU and Freedom From Religion that are totally messing up our schools.