Letter: Only united teachers can help education

Tuesday, May 29, 2001 | 9:49 a.m.

I taught high school for 35 years, but I never thought of myself as an "expert" on education. That's why I'm amazed at the "expertise" of those whose only qualifications are that they once sat behind a student's desk and they once cornered the orange juice market.

"Business is the answer," they say. "Don't throw money at it; fire the losers; pay more to physics teachers than to English teachers; and bring in merit pay."

First, education is not a business. Second, business really only operates that way with workers below management level if there is no union to stop them. The "good old boys" take care of one another. If a teacher can't teach, he becomes an administrator, makes more money, and decides which teachers are the "good" ones. Those administrators would decide who deserves the merit pay. I suppose you could pay physics teachers more than English teachers, but all our rocket scientists would talk like George W. Bush.

Education will always suffer until the teachers unite as a political force. They are employees of the county and the state. Sitting back and calling themselves "professionals" will not buy them a used tire from the left rear of an SUV. Politics is about power and money and who gets both.

A unified voting block is the only thing that will get what is needed to make a quality educational system. Don't worry about what businessmen say. "Truth" is what those in power say it is. They send their kids to private schools anyway.

JERRY BITTS