It also was evident that the teachers union is a lobbying arm of the Democratic Party.
That was demonstrated firsthand when each state delegate who spoke during the three-day convention from July 4 to July 6 was encouraged to state his or her name and “preferred” pronouns before addressing the assembly.
The pronouns I heard were he, she, they—and hex. One delegate even announced “they” had a uterus before addressing the assembly, apparently because that was something we all needed to know.
In the teachers union’s preamble, it reads, “NEA is to be the national voice for education managed by and for the public good, to advance the cause for ALL individuals.”
However, as I read the 70 new business items and 40 amendments to bylaws, legislation, and resolutions and listened to the platform speeches, it was obvious the NEA only represents those who hold the same ideologies and radical leftist political views.
The NEA doesn’t want public education to be neutral ground in developing critical thinkers with an emphasis on academic achievement.
Its priorities were apparent, because of the 110 motions discussed and voted on, only four remotely addressed student academic achievement. Those four dealt with student financial literacy and resources for English learners and language acquisition.
Nearly half of the motions dealt with identity politics, social justice, and ways to promote the goals of the Democratic Party.
Some examples included broad-brushing police as biased and corrupt; mocking the Second Amendment as a societal harm; fighting for preferential treatment for any and all groups considered “marginalized,” especially nonconforming genders and infinite sexual identities; fighting misinformation in the media (that is, any media outlets that don’t agree with their views); increasing abortion rights; adding seats to the Supreme Court; and advocating for more queer representation on school boards.
Some other outlier items addressed environmental issues, hiring illegal immigrants as teachers, funding research concerning autism as it relates to gender identity, and funding global feeding programs.
Close to 40 percent of the motions were related to protecting teachers’ jobs and increasing their benefits and their right to be social justice cadres.
Although the NEA says it fights for nondiscrimination and civil rights, the only state delegates able to attend the Chicago event in person were those who were fully vaccinated. Any teachers who didn’t have vaccination cards could only attend virtually, regardless of whether they tested negative for COVID-19 or their reasons for not getting the vaccine.
The vaccinated delegates, who attended in person, had all their expenses paid by their union local, while unvaccinated teachers were excluded and stigmatized as a “harm” to attendees. For a group that screams “My body, my choice,” the double standard is appalling.
On a positive note, the NEA voted down a new business item trying to mandate that all teachers in the nation be vaccinated. It lost, with 84 percent of the vote opposing.
“This Supreme Court and a significant number of radicalized elected officials have walked away from ‘freedom for all’ for an extreme discriminatory, exclusionary, misogynist, homophobic, out of touch, racist, cruel, corrupt ideology!” Anderson said.
I spoke up during a debate opposing a new business item to create a smear list of organizations seeking to “dismantle public education due to diminishing freedoms of sexual and gender identities and honest education” (a smokescreen for critical race theory).
This was my virtual statement:
“If NEA creates a fact sheet of the organizations ‘dismantling’ public education, please include NEA on that list.
I was tempted to state my “preferred” pronouns as “Com, U, and Nism,” but I resisted the urge to do so.
In conclusion, with respect to almost everything the NEA accuses others of doing, it’s one of the biggest offenders.
The United States is in desperate need of educational reform because this powerful union, the National Education Association, is using teachers and students as its political pawns.