I've been trying to wrap my mind around this teacher union issue. Why, I ask myself, am I so opposed to the present teacher union? I don't think teachers who get paid more should have to lose their job because of tightening budgets. However, I never really liked the idea that the unions would so vehemently deny schools the right to fire bad teachers. Frankly, I think bad teachers make the profession look bad. We've all worked with bad teachers; why defend them?

Teachers have been shouting for higher pay. They are finally making it yet they are unwilling to do what the public demands: improve education. Every time I sit with true-blue union teachers, I hear them talk about what they don't have to do. They don't have to go to graduation to see the product of their efforts get a diploma. They don't have to go to the concerts to see how their students may have talent they did not previously know about. They don't have to stay late to help a student. They don't have to make parent phone calls from home. They don't have to attend sports events. What then do they have to do? Just show up and get a check.

If teachers want to be treated like the professionals they profess themselves to be, they need to recognize what they are here for. Can you imagine the public outcry if doctors went on strike because they were upset with the conditions under which they worked? Why don't lawyers unionize? There is something fishy about this business and I suspect it's that teachers do not care about what they claim about : their students. Otherwise, how could they really justify walking out on strike because they might have to pay a couple more bucks for health insurance. Or they might have to be held accountable for the work they do.

I recently watched the movie Norma Rae. I get why people wanted to unionize the textile mills: because they were working in unsafe conditions for too low a pay. Teachers do not now have that. Furthermore, when textile workers walk out on strike, they hurt no one but he people they want to hurt -- the fat-cat owners. When teachers walk out on strike they simply say, "Too bad kids. My wallet is more important than your education."

I know many teachers in private schools who have to prove their worth every year. While seniority plays in to some areas, the bottom line is the bottom line. If you don't haul your weight and make a difference , you're out. Time to make a change.