America’s labor unions are apparently not satisfied with merely destroying much of the economy with unreasonable demands and threats. In Illinois, a new bill will ensure public school students receive a one-sided propagandistic lesson on their ostensible benefit to workers.
At certain points in America’s past, unions arguably served a noble purpose. In our modern society, however, these groups are largely led by bosses who continue to seek more extravagant benefits with little regard for the economic impact to employers. In reality, these policies very often have a negative impact on the very workers – both in the private and public sectors – that unions say they exist to protect.
Nevertheless, Democrat State Sen. Michael E. Hastings recently introduced S.B. 2682, which includes the mandate that the “study of the history of organized labor in America” be a central focus of history education in the state.
Hastings, by the way, has received huge campaign donations from labor unions during his legislative career.
In addition to studying “the collective bargaining process,” the bill would ensure students are subjected to “the role of labor unions and their interaction with the government” throughout America’s history.
The fact that public school teachers are invariably bound to their own union bosses is of particular concern to the many opponents of this bill. As Justin Hegy of the Illinois Policy Institute suggested, the proposition appears rather incestuous.
“Our students are presented with a government-run education system,” he explained, “managed by government workers who are themselves heavily unionized, which mandates a curriculum that glorifies the role of unions. Conflict of interest, anyone?”
Illinois is one of many states with a documented history of economic distress directly caused by the selfish desires of unions and their leaders. Nevertheless, leftist leaders continue to sing their praises, even to the point of indoctrinating the next generation with pro-union talking points.
California has engaged in similar campaigns in recent years, though this bill will make such propaganda an educational requirement. American teens continue to graduate high school without a firm grasp on even the most basic skills students had in generations past. Instead of focusing on preparing our youth for life in the real world, public schools are offering a biased view of the unions responsible for much of the educational system’s current corruption.
–B. Christopher Agee
