Any Americans who still wonder why our public school system has been the epitome of mediocrity over the past forty-plus years should focus on the battle currently being waged in Florida. A new bill there aims to eliminate tenure for teachers, and offer them merit pay based on the test performances of their students. Naturally–if we assume that nature has been turned completely upside down–teachers are adamantly opposed to the bill.

And why shouldn’t they be? When one gets used to lifetime employment coupled with virtually no accountability for job performance, it is daunting to see such a cushy status quo being threatened. The excuses for resisting this bill are tiresomely familiar:

–It will force teachers to “teach to the test,” thereby destroying the “richness” of the educational experience.

How rich is the current experience? According to Florida’s Sun-Sentinel, a 2009 report by the Florida Reading Council stated that “55 percent of Florida college freshmen required remedial study.” Furthermore, according to Education Week, Florida ranks 10th among the states in “education quality.” Got that? A system which leaves more than half of its college freshmen in need of remedial study to do college work garners a top ten ranking for quality.

–Teachers shouldn’t have to pay the price for lousy parenting.

Sounds eminently reasonable–until one remembers a couple of things. First, the timeline: since the public school system has been in decline for the aforementioned two generations, one could reasonably conclude that many of those so-called lousy parents were the “beneficiaries” of the same sub-standard education being foisted on their children. Second, since everyone knows all it takes are a couple of unruly kids to disrupt the learning experience of an entire classroom, one would think the teachers’ union would address such issues during contract talks.

Question: when have teachers ever bargained for codified standards of behavior for students and/or their parents? When have they demanded expulsion for chronic trouble-makers? When have they bargained for–rather than against– standardized measurements of student progress? The sad reality is that virtually every aspect of union contract negotiations focuses on what’s good for teachers–period.

–teachers who have “earned” seniority shouldn’t be forced to teach in “lousy” schools.

Really? The most experienced professionals feel no obligation to help the neediest students? A system which allocates its weakest resources–new, inexperienced teachers–to its most pressing problems–failing schools–is essentially saying something profoundly troubling to those who need help the most: drop dead.

Florida is not alone. The virus of unionized public school education is a national disease. It is a disease which forces children to attend lousy schools because they live in a certain neighborhoods, makes it nearly impossible to fire incompetent, often criminal teachers, and steadfastly resists any competition from vouchers or charter schools.

Public school education is possibly the only “business” ever run in America which has consistently produced inferior results–for decades–even as it remain impervious to “bankruptcy.” Other than our judiciary system, it is the only one in existence which guarantees lifetime employment for its workers.

And never, ever forget why unions exist: to protect and promote the interests of their members–and no one else. That means under the best of circumstances, the interests of parents and their children can never be more the secondary considerations.

But not to worry, Florida teachers. Governor Charlie Crist will veto the bill. Like most politicians, the interests of campaign-contributing union members who bloc vote are far more important than those of parents and their children. And Crist, who’s getting hammered in the polls for the Republican Party’s Senate nomination by newcomer Marco Rubio, will use that veto as a stepping stone for an independent run at the same seat.

Once that happens, the Florida educational establishment can go back to doing business as usual: turning out under-educated students, many of whom are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their teachers in the current debate. Perhaps it is because far too many of them have never learned about the concept of “irony”–which in this case is about blindly supporting a status quo which compromises their own futures.

In a better world, teachers who rally against standardized tests and salaries based on the performance would be ashamed of themselves. But this is not a better world, and most teachers would like America to believe they had absolutely nothing to do with making it this way. “It’s not our fault,” they say.

Sure it isn’t.

atahlert@comcast.net

Have PoliticalMavens.com delivered to your inbox in a daily digest by clicking here