Have You No Shame?

"Reformers" are having a field day criticizing Diane Ravitch. Apparently, she had the audacity to not only call teachers from Newtown heroes, but also to mention they were unionized.

Therefore, she has a political agenda. Therefore, she's saying that non-union teachers are not heroes. Therefore, she's pursuing her own agenda and exploiting this tragedy for her own selfish goals.

And yet, I've been reading everything that crosses my desk about education, and here's what I've learned about teachers:

1. They are lazy. They don't want to do whatever it takes to make sure kids learn get adequate test scores. Why won't they work 200 hours a week, like they do at KIPP? If they did, all kids would be passing, and no child would be left behind.

2. They are greedy. Teachers only care about money. That's why they're always asking for more. Probably, that's why they became teachers. We know teachers are greedy because hedge fund managers, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and the Walmart family say so.

3. They have too many benefits. Lots of Americans work without health or dental benefits. That's not fair. They only way to make things fair would be to take them away from the teachers. That way, only hedge fund managers, Bill Gates, Eli Broad and the Walmart Family will have health care. And that's fair because they're all so rich none of them actually need it.

4. They insist on due process before they're fired. Many Americans don't have that. For example, Americans who actually work for the Walmart family can be fired for any reason, or indeed no reason. But teacher unions are always whining about no, you can't just call me a pervert, you have to prove it.

And the same people who spout this nonsense every day of their miserable lives are now up in arms that Diane Ravitch pointed out the heroic teachers of Newtown were unionized. Apparently no one is allowed to say that. Perhaps they should issue a book of rules on what people can and cannot say.

Personally, I can't wait to ignore it.