T H I N K

A close look reveals a much more complicated picture. Concerns about the state of public education are not unwarranted, but there is no evidence that the presence of unions impedes academic success in American schools. Consider this: in states like Massachusetts and Minnesota, where public schools are heavily unionized, students earn the highest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the standardized exam known as the nation's report card. In contrast, students in states such as Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, which have few if any teachers union members and virtually no union contracts, have the lowest NAEP scores. What's more, in almost all the nations that outperform the United States in education, teachers are unionized and teaching is a respected profession.

Proving that the issue is much deeper than union and anti-union struggles. The complex of class, race, sex, etc. contributes most deeply to American education system. Teachers should be treated with dignity, assigned appropriately to their strengths, offered opportunities to improve, and supported by teachers and administration alike.