3 ms·

Teachers unions are political organizations that lean left. They are never going to want to get behind anything Mississippi does. Their sole purpose is to sipho

Teachers unions are political organizations that lean left. They are never going to want to get behind anything Mississippi does. Their sole purpose is to siphon off as much public funding for their members, not to teach children. In fact failing kids justifies more money spent (guys, this is literally in the article as a point where liberal assumptions are being challenged; please read the article before downvoting me at least). While all this sold a story 'whole word' nonsense was going on in public schools (my mom was a public school teacher), our Catholic school (non union) used a phonics based curriculum. It was the teachers unions circulating misinformation to public school teachers about the efficacy of the 'whole word' method. EDIT: Because I'm getting downvoted, let's go straight to the source. Here is the California Teacher's association itself highlighting its efforts to ban mandatory phonics-based instruction: https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/04/reading-california-phonics/ https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/04/read...

greenie_beans 1y ago
> Teachers unions are political organizations that lean left. They are never going to want to get behind anything Mississippi does. Mississippi Association of Educators (a teacher's union that is part of the National Education Association, aka the largest union in the US) supported the efforts to improve the literacy rates.
- anon291 1y ago
  MAE is a wholly different beast than teacher's unions in most states. Mississippi does not require teachers to join the union, thus the union needs to compete to attract teachers. Thus, it is incentivized to actually do stuff. Usually, when people say teacher's unions (or at least when I refer to them), I refer to the set up in the most populated states like CA, NY, IL, etc, where it is a requirement for teachers to join the union, regardless of what they think of the union. I'm fine with employees banding together. What CA and other states do (require teachers to pay dues to the union) is criminal. Basically, the strength of the union correlates with educational outcomes: https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/how-strong-are-us-teacher-unions-state-state-comparison https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/how-strong-ar... As of 2006 (a bit dated), only 36% of MS teachers were in the union.
  - FrustratedMonky 1y ago
    So basically Person1> Don't trust Unions. Person2> But you are using a union as an example. Person1> No, my union is better than all the other unions. Mine makes a difference, thus I'm not a commie. Person2> What?
  - greenie_beans 1y ago
    It still refutes your original point: > Teachers unions are political organizations that lean left. They are never going to want to get behind anything Mississippi does. This teacher's union supported improved literacy rates in MS. Would be insane for any organization to not support that effort. Also, the most effective left leaning organizations prioritize uplifting the South, including MS.
cheschire 1y ago
What about where MAE[0] got their Republican governor[1] to approve the largest teacher salary increase in state history[2]? You're painting with an awfully broad brush there. 0: https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/our-history https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/our-history 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Reeves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Reeves 2: https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/media-center/press-releases/historic-teacher-salary-raise-becomes-law https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/media-center/press-releas...
- anon291 1y ago
  I addressed this in another comment. Unlike many states, Mississippi does not require teachers to pay dues to the union (California for example, does). Mississippi has a low rate of teachers union membership as a result (only ~36%). Mississippi has one of the weakest teachers unions in the country. Because of this, the union has to do what teachers want, rather than vice versa. I'm speaking from experience with the California Teacher's Association. CA mandates even non-member teachers to pay union dues. EDIT: Here is an article from the CTA highlighting their efforts to fight phonics-based reading instruction: https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/04/reading-california-phonics/ https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/04/read... Woohoo! teachers unions!!!
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - gowld 1y ago
    You can disagree with the whole-language reading, but it's a stretch to claim that a union opposing mandates on teachers is not representing what the teachers want.

greenie_beans 1y ago

> Teachers unions are political organizations that lean left. They are never going to want to get behind anything Mississippi does. Mississippi Association of Educators (a teacher's union that is part of the National Education Association, aka the largest union in the US) supported the efforts to improve the literacy rates.

anon291 1y ago
MAE is a wholly different beast than teacher's unions in most states. Mississippi does not require teachers to join the union, thus the union needs to compete to attract teachers. Thus, it is incentivized to actually do stuff. Usually, when people say teacher's unions (or at least when I refer to them), I refer to the set up in the most populated states like CA, NY, IL, etc, where it is a requirement for teachers to join the union, regardless of what they think of the union. I'm fine with employees banding together. What CA and other states do (require teachers to pay dues to the union) is criminal. Basically, the strength of the union correlates with educational outcomes: https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/how-strong-are-us-teacher-unions-state-state-comparison https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/how-strong-ar... As of 2006 (a bit dated), only 36% of MS teachers were in the union.
- FrustratedMonky 1y ago
  So basically Person1> Don't trust Unions. Person2> But you are using a union as an example. Person1> No, my union is better than all the other unions. Mine makes a difference, thus I'm not a commie. Person2> What?
- greenie_beans 1y ago
  It still refutes your original point: > Teachers unions are political organizations that lean left. They are never going to want to get behind anything Mississippi does. This teacher's union supported improved literacy rates in MS. Would be insane for any organization to not support that effort. Also, the most effective left leaning organizations prioritize uplifting the South, including MS.

cheschire 1y ago

What about where MAE[0] got their Republican governor[1] to approve the largest teacher salary increase in state history[2]? You're painting with an awfully broad brush there. 0: https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/our-history https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/our-history 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Reeves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Reeves 2: https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/media-center/press-releases/historic-teacher-salary-raise-becomes-law https://www.maetoday.org/about-mae/media-center/press-releas...

anon291 1y ago
I addressed this in another comment. Unlike many states, Mississippi does not require teachers to pay dues to the union (California for example, does). Mississippi has a low rate of teachers union membership as a result (only ~36%). Mississippi has one of the weakest teachers unions in the country. Because of this, the union has to do what teachers want, rather than vice versa. I'm speaking from experience with the California Teacher's Association. CA mandates even non-member teachers to pay union dues. EDIT: Here is an article from the CTA highlighting their efforts to fight phonics-based reading instruction: https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/04/reading-california-phonics/ https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/04/read... Woohoo! teachers unions!!!
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- gowld 1y ago
  You can disagree with the whole-language reading, but it's a stretch to claim that a union opposing mandates on teachers is not representing what the teachers want.