A View of Teachers' Unions

Have you ever seen this, or something like it?

Rules for teachers in 1915


1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.

2. You are not to keep company with men.

3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.

4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.

5. You may not travel beyond city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.

6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7. You may not smoke cigarettes.

8. You may not dress in bright colors.

9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.

10. You must wear at least two petticoats.

11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.

12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must:

* sweep the floor at least once daily
* scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water
* clean the blackboards at least once a day
* start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm by 8 a.m.

For a long time in this country, teachers were second class citizens. My father was a teacher in the 1950's and many is the time he told (retold) the story of getting a contract. One year it was HIS turn to negotiate with the Superintendent, so, along with 2 or 3 other teachers, he scheduled a meeting. They walked in and explained (in 5 minutes or less) why they felt they needed a raise. The Superintendent then told them what provisions the district had made for a raise the following year and negotiations were over.

Teacher unions came along because of scores of years of abuses heaped upon the hard working men and women in the profession. When folks bitch about teachers' unions these days, don't forget, it was a narrow minded, disrespectful approach to the members of that profession that brought on the unions to begin with.

And it ain't over. I picked up the following from the J-Walk Blog...

In Texas: Teacher terminated over marriage.

A teacher at a Catholic high school got married, and then she got fired.

The reason for her termination turns on a theological tenet. According to Catholic doctrine, participants in a marriage must be an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. LaFortune told the principal that her fiance had been divorced - a proceeding not recognized by the Catholic Church.

The deacon was concerned with whether the first marriage of LaFortune's fiance, Benjamin Stakes, had been declared invalid by a Catholic tribunal and thereby annulled. His concern, however, did not sit well with LaFortune, who refused to resign from her job or seek an annulment - a process that could reach to Rome and take more than a year.

According to Deacon Patrick Cunningham:

his stance wasn't a personal attack, but rather a reflection of God's laws, which are non-negotiable.

And this:

At one point, the school president asked LaFortune if she went to church every Sunday. She told him she did not. "No wonder you don't understand," Pontolillo said. "You are not churched."

Meanwhile, hundreds of pedophile priests remain on the job...