Who are the responsible parties for the dismal state of our children's education?

Moving on from teachers we need to take a look at the teacher's association/union.

In a recent article in Education Week detailing some of the reasons for the excellence of Finnish education, considered the best in the world by many, one of the major differences noted between teachers in Finland and here was the level of academic achievement and concentration of training that Finnish teachers have attained.

All were in the top 10 percent of their class in University and had master's degrees in the subject that they were teaching.

We certainly do not have this profile of teachers in this country.

In states where it is not mandatory to belong to a union to teach, teachers' unions often do not even exist.

In Washington, a very unionized state, this is not the case and most school boards have "given away the store" by agreeing to mandatory membership clauses, and have even agreed to collect the dues for the unions.

As such the Washington Education Association has a very significant membership forced to pay over $700 per year to fund the activities of the union.

Most of the involuntary members of this union do not attend meetings or partake in any other activities that the union sponsors unless they have a direct impact upon their own welfare.

While this union would like us to believe that they are "concerned about the quality of education" it has not been my experience that they actually have many concerns about the quality of education.

Every year that I served on the board I continued to ask the leadership of the union for ideas and proposals that would improve education in Federal Way.

There was never any response to this.

Instead the Union wanted to work "through the administration" on "working conditions" that had little impact upon student's success.

Topics such as vacation schedules, hours of employment, and hours/days for planning meetings seem to be their priority.

What does this Union do with the considerable dollars it has the taxpayers collect for it?

Certainly the President of the union doesn't seem to be in poverty!

The Union spends considerable dollars on getting the "right" people elected to school boards so they can find more generosity from the other side of negotiation table.

In addition to this effort to raid the taxpayer, the Union spends considerable funds on lobbying the Legislature for what they try to portray as ways to "improve education."

This is either in the form higher salaries for teachers, creation of more teaching positions, or alleviation from any specific responsibilities for the membership.

As an example the Union is constantly trying to get a "reduction in class size."

The State of Tennessee did a rather intensive study of the effectiveness of this strategy. The conclusion was that for the first few grades this does have a positive impact when you reduce class size to 14 or less.

Currently in this state the number is well over 20.

If this were to happen in this state the membership dues would soar for the union.

Where school districts would find the qualified teachers, or the classrooms to put them in, doesn't seem to concern the union. Increasing the member paying dues does seem to be a very high priority.

It is the purpose of unions, in the conventional labor force, to improve the working conditions of their members and some unions have been more successful at this than others.

In the past years the membership of most unions has declined except for those in the public service area where the union, and its membership, can exert considerable force on the management side of the table.

Some school boards have become packed with sympathizers, sometimes teachers from adjoining districts, and this calls to question the "checks and balances" of a traditional union-management system.

The auto industry in the 1960-70's produced uncompetitive cars under highly unionized workforces and the results of this have been the gradual overtaking of the American market by foreign car makers.

For an American car maker the cost of the medical benefits accorded to the workers has become the most significant cost of a new car.

As a result innovation and quality have declined to a point where the consumer bolted for foreign makes.

In education most "consumers" don't have this choice and may have to go down with the ship unless this changes. The "foreign" education systems seem to be duplicating the auto scene.

When does this change? Only when the taxpayer decides that this isn't the best system for either the taxpayer or the children in my opinion.

Next time, Guidance Departments.

Charlie Hoff is a former member of the Board of Education for Federal Way Public Schools. His weekly column will appear in upcoming issues of the Federal Way News and online at www.federalwaynews.net.