Commentary and Criticism about the National Education Association
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This article is from the Smithsonian Magazine.
Deranged individuals who want to murder innocent people will always find a way to do so. Take away their guns, they will use knives, baseball bats, trucks and even bombs. This 1927 bombing killed 44 people - 38 were young children.
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FAKE NEWS In the wake of last week’s school shooting in Florida, NEA President Garcia made the following claim: “Parents and educators overwhelmingly reject the idea of arming school staff.” Her basis for this bold statement? Well … actually, she didn’t give any. So the Anti-NEA Blog decided to do a bit of research to help her out. It didn’t take long to find a website containing recent polls dealing with gun issues. And the survey said? So, unless Garcia has access to some special information, she is simply peddling fake news here. CBS NEWS POLL (margin of error +/- 4%) To start with, consider the results of this CBS News Poll from February 20-22, 2018 "Do you favor or oppose allowing more teachers and school officials to carry guns in schools?" Favor – 44% Oppose – 50% Unsure/No answer – 6% Because the margin of error in this poll is +/- 4%, claiming that people “overwhelmingly reject” arming teachers is clearly a false statement. But it gets even worse. This same survey was run in 2017 and 2015. The results show that, over time, not only do fewer people oppose arming teachers, but more actually FAVOR ARMING TEACHERS. December 3-5, 2017 Favor – 40% Oppose – 56% Unsure/No answer – 3% October 21-25, 2015 Favor – 38% Oppose – 57% Unsure/No answer – 4% ITS THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE, STUPID What IS “overwhelming” is that all of the polls are crystal clear about what really needs to be done. And its not more gun control. Take the ABC News/Washington Post Poll from February 15-18, 2018 (margin of error +/- 4%) "Do you think that mass shootings in this country are more a reflection of problems identifying and treating people with mental health problems, or inadequate gun control laws?" Mental Health – 57% Gun Control Laws – 28% Both – 9% Neither – 2% Unsure – 4% Another question from that same poll drives this issue home: "Do you think this event could or could not have been prevented by more effective mental health screening and treatment?" Could have been prevented – 77% Could not have been prevented – 16% Unsure – 7% Not convinced? Consider this CBS News Poll from December 3-5, 2017 (margin of error +/-4%). Once again, health care is the “overwhelming” issue. "Please tell me whether you think each of the following would do a lot … to help prevent gun violence?" Stricter gun laws – 41% Better Mental Health Screening and Treatment – 68% And finally, how about this Quinnipiac University Poll from November 7-13, 2017 (margin of error +/- 3%) "Which do you believe is a bigger cause of mass shootings? It is too easy to buy guns in the United States. OR, It is too difficult to get mental health care in the United States." Too easy to buy guns – 37% Too difficult to get mental health care – 52% Unsure/no answer – 11% CONCLUSION: Knave or Fool? As you can see, a quick review of recent polls proves that NEA President Garcia’s statement is false. If she is basing her claim on some other survey or knowledge that we are not aware of then it is incumbent upon her to provide this information if she wants to be taken seriously. Otherwise, the old expression fits well here. NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia is either a knave or a fool. I wonder … Could a fool get elected to be president of the NEA? “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency.” Barack Obama, June 18th, 2015 (after the Charleston, S.C. church shooting) "But our country stands as the disturbing outlier. Only the United States has such a long, long, long list of mass public murders by a lone gunman. The reason is simple. Our laws allow dangerous people to easily purchase military-style, rapid-fire assault weapons. That’s the only difference.” Lily Eskelsen Garcia, February 19th, 2018 (after the latest shooting in Florida) OBAMA AND GARCIA – “Mostly False” The website Politifact gave President Barack Obama a “Mostly False” rating for his comment that mass violence doesn’t occur in other countries. Because we are not certain that Politifact will take the time to rate NEA President Garcia’s most recent statement about gun violence, the Anti-NEA Blog decided to undertake its own research. After careful consideration, we conclude that her comments, like Obama’s, are also “Mostly False.” THESIS OF THIS BLOG POST – Garcia uses half-truth and outright factual omission to push an anti-gun agenda Garcia is essentially making two claims:
She doesn’t mince words either – she lays the blame squarely on guns (what she calls “the disturbing outlier”): “Other countries have people with mental health illnesses. Other countries have people who watch violent movies and play violent video games and post violent social media. Other countries have people who murder. But our country stands as the disturbing outlier.” The problem with Garcia’s statement (and the reason why she has been judged “Mostly False”) is that she intentionally misleads her readers by mixing half-truth with outright factual omission. The Half Truth – Stop focusing on a “lone gunmen” Garcia claims that: “Only the United States has such a long, long, long list of mass public murders by a lone gunman.” This is a half-truth because Garcia is arbitrarily focusing on a “lone gunman” committing mass murder. Why does it matter if a mass murder is committed by one person (Sandy Hook, US), two people (Columbine, US), three people (Ma’a lot Israel), or an entire group of people (Westgate Mall, Nairobi)? What purpose is served by making this distinction? Why does it matter how many people carried out the atrocity? The Outright Factual Omission - You forgot three things ... Garcia omits three very important facts:
Anti-Gun Agenda or Bust - All other points of view be damned! We agree with Garcia on one point – no one wants “dangerous people to easily purchase military-style, rapid-fire assault weapons.” What rational person wouldn’t agree? But wouldn’t this same rational person be open to a rational discussion about how to properly address this issue? Not Garcia: “We will not play that game. We demand a plan that will keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people.” This approach reminds us of her attitude towards Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last year. If you are not familiar with this, we suggest you read our last Anti-NEA blog post which details this entire affair: “NEA President Garcia tries to settle a personal score with her latest publicity stunt.” If you don’t have time to go back and read the entire post, here is an important quote which highlights Garcia’s unwillingness to consider any point of view but her own: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called me the other day saying we should talk. But this seems premature. So I sent her a letter, asking for the answers that we didn’t get from her confirmation hearing. I have yet to receive a response …” As we said in that last post, you don’t start a conversation with an ultimatum. When Garcia decides to discuss an issue only on her own terms, she is short-circuiting the solution process before it even starts. Final Point – Garcia doesn’t speak for all union members The teachers who write for the Anti-NEA Blog are forced members of the National Education Association - part of our state union dues are sent to that organization without our consent. In any case, we are still full NEA members. As members, we want to make clear that Lily Eskelsen Garcia’s viewpoint on this particular issue does not represent our viewpoint – she does not speak for all NEA members when she pursues her anti-gun agenda. LONE GUNMEN – Garcia’s Half -Truth “Only the United States has such a long, long, long list of mass public murders by a lone gunman.” We would agree that there have been numerous mass murders by lone gunmen in the United States – that part of Garcia’s statement is true. She didn’t provide specific references for her statement but we will help her out on this point. The following table only goes up to 2012, but it is still useful because it traces mass shootings all the way back to 1966 so you get a good historical view: FACTUAL OMISSION #1 – The “lone gunman” and the number of deaths When you take a look at the above chart, you realize that a full 50% of those mass shooting occurred in the United States (16 out of 32). This is certainly more support for Garcia’s claim that there has been a “long, long, long list of mass public murders.” We don’t deny this. But if you look at the total number of individuals killed, you realize that more died outside of this country (288) than inside (231). This is where we start to recognize that Garcia only provided a half-truth. And to continue the point, consider this chart from Top 5 of Anything website: While two of these massacres did occur in the United States, three of these top five did not. And this chart doesn’t even include a recent “lone gunman” attack in the Philippines last year: “Thirty-seven people have been killed in a Manila casino, following an attack in the early hours of Friday morning by a lone gunman who fired shots from an assault rifle and set fire to gambling tables.” If you include this attack, only 2 out of the top 6 shootings would have taken place in the United States. FACTUAL OMISSION #2 – Top 10 School Shootings When it comes to “lone gunmen” involved in school shootings, only 4 out of the top 10 occurred in the United States up until 2012: #10 Realengo Massacre – 2011 Brazil The gunman was 23-year-old Wellington Menezes de Oileira a former student. He shot and killed 12 students between the ages of 12 and 14. #9 Columbine High School Massacre – 1999 USA They went on a shooting spree inside the school and murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher. They also injured 24 students before the two committed suicide. #8 Winnenden School Shooting – 2009 Germany At the school he shot and killed 9 students and 3 teachers. #7 Montreal Massacre – 1989 Canada Lepine killed a total of 14 woman students and 1 woman employee, he also injured 14 others in the attack. #6 Erfurt Massacre – 2002 Germany Steinhauser shot and killed 12 teachers, the school secretary, 2 students and a policeman. #5 University of Texas Clock Tower Shooting – 1966 USA The deadly shooting went on for 96 minutes, killing 14 and injuring 32. #4 Dunblane Massacre – 1996 U.K The individual shot and killed 16 children and 1 adult before committing suicide. NOTE: AN UPDATED LIST WOULD INCLUDE THE RECENT FLORIDA MASSACRE HERE #3 Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting – 2012 USA He shot 20 children and 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. #2 Ma’alot Massacre – 1974 Israel In the end 25 hostages were killed and 68 injured. #1 Virginia Tech Massacre – 2007 USA Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 other FACTUAL OMISSION #3 – Mass Murder: US Not in Top 10 The following table makes clear that, when it comes to mass murders, the US is 12 out of 18. FACTUAL OMISSION #4: Recent Mass Shootings in Africa Garcia also neglects to speak about mass shooting in Africa. We all know that the NEA supports Black Lives Matter: So why does Garcia ignore these recent events in Africa? “Boko Haram's 'deadliest massacre' reportedly kills 2,000 in Nigeria” “Nigeria Boko Haram crisis: Militants 'kill 150'” “On Sunday night, dozens of gunmen with suspected ties to notorious Islamist terror group Boko Haram murdered more than 40 university students as they slept in dormitories at an agricultural college in Yobe, northeastern Nigeria” “It's all the legacy of September 21, 2013, when armed gunmen stormed the mall and held people here under siege for three days. The attack left 67 dead and hundreds wounded.” FACTUAL OMISSION #5: Recent Mass Murder with Knives “BEIJING — China suffered one of its deadliest ever acts of terror, according to authorities, when more than 10 knife-wielding men killed at least 29 people and injured over 130 in a brutal assault at a train station in southwest China's Kunming city Saturday night.” “Knife-attack in China leaves 18 injured; 2 dead” “Death Toll in Xinjiang Coal Mine Attack Climbs to 50 … a group of knife-wielding suspects set upon security guards at the gate of the Sogan Colliery in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) prefecture’s Bay (Baicheng) county, before targeting the mine owner’s residence and a dormitory for workers.” “Japan knife attack: At least 19 dead” “In June 2001, eight children were killed when a former janitor entered an Ikeda elementary school in Osaka and began stabbing students at random.” “In June 2008, a man ran over a group of people with his truck and then stabbed 18, killing seven, in Tokyo's famous Akihabara gaming district.” FACTUAL OMISSION #6: Mass Murder with Trucks “Nice attacker posed for selfies in truck used to kill 84 people” “Truck Attack, Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Eight people are killed and 11 others are injured. “ FACTUAL OMISSION #7: Mass Murder with Poison Gas “The attack left 13 people dead, and more than 6,000 others suffering the effects of the nerve gas. More than 20 years later, a majority of the victims say they still have vision problems and fatigue” FACTUAL OMISSION #8: And don't forget mass murder with bombs This post is getting too long already - you can easily do a search for this one. Start with Oklahoma City and go from there. Thousands upon thousands have been murdered this way - especially in the Middle East. CASE STUDY – Gun Restrictions in Britain suggest it isn't all about guns. Newsflash for Lily Eskelsen Garcia: It might not be all about the guns. There appears to be something more going on here. Why do we say this? Consider two points made by Thomas Sowell in an article which appeared in The Guardian in the days after the Sandy Hook massacre. He compares gun crime in the United States with that in Britain. His conclusion is that gun control is not the central issue. Given the fact that Britain always had a lower murder rate than the US and that armed robbery in Britain actually went up after gun restrictions were put in place in that country, clearly it’s not necessarily just about the guns … 1)“The crime rate, including the rate of crimes committed with guns, is far higher in Britain now than it was back in the days when there were few restrictions on Britons buying firearms. In 1954, there were only a dozen armed robberies in London but, by the 1990s – after decades of ever tightening gun ownership restrictions – there were more than a hundred times as many armed robberies.” 2)“… if you look back through history, you will find that Britain has had a lower murder rate than the United States for more than two centuries – and, for most of that time, the British had no more stringent gun control laws than the United States. Indeed, neither country had stringent gun control for most of that time. CONCLUSION: A Good Leader Keeps an Open Mind Guns, especially “assault rifles,” are an easy target. They look mean, they have magazines that can hold a lot of bullets, and they can shoot pretty fast. So banning them seems the easy way out – a quick fix. But is it the right fix? NEA President Garcia is quick to ridicule the call for better mental health care: “They made vague mentions of better mental health care – a cynical call since many of those same politicians are gutting those benefits from the Affordable Care Act.” But there is increasing evidence that SSRI drugs are behind some of the mass shootings.
Guns have been a part of the United States for hundreds of years but mass shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon. SSRI drugs were introduced in the 1980s. A rational person would note a possible connection that is worth looking into. The bottom line is that NEA President Garcia’s “outlier” is quite possibly not the guns. The right think to do is to keep an open mind. That is what good leaders do. So instead of blaming the gun lobby it might make more sense to blame the drug lobby. After all, “Big Pharma” spends billions marketing their wares to consumers and physicians ($27 billion in 2012). That pales next to what the NRA spent in the latest election cycle ($50.2 million) Something to consider. "Alarms went off, red flags were raised, and outcries from the public, followed her nomination. She became a punchline for late night comedians during her disastrous confirmation hearing because she simply failed to convince the American public that she was up for the job.”
NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia on Betsy DeVos, February 7, 2018 THESIS OF THIS BLOG POST – NEA orchestrates campaign to oust Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos On February 8, 2018, NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia walked over to the Department of Education building in Washington DC and tried to deliver several packages to Secretary Betsy DeVos. Belated birthday presents, perhaps? After all, DeVos had just celebrated her 60th birthday exactly one month earlier on January 8th. Not exactly. Instead, those packages contained 80,000 “report cards” meant to teach DeVos a lesson. Had Garcia done a better job with her “lesson planning,” she may have actually been able to complete this delivery. Unfortunately, she didn’t call the DOE ahead of time to make an appointment. How irresponsible of President Garcia. “The union leaders found locked doors as they tried to enter the Department of Education building …” What exactly did those report cards contain? Straight F's. The NEA had given DeVos straight F's because she failed to show proper support for public education. This failed "Report Card" Delivery" was the culmination of a methodical and calculated campaign by the NEA to force DeVos out of office. The Anti-DeVos campaign started immediately upon her nomination, picked up steam leading into the confirmation hearings, reached a climax at the 2017 Convention (where the NEA asked her to resign) and culminated in the failed publicity stunt on February 8, 2018. THE FEUD BEGINS – DeVos reaches out to Garcia, Garcia turns her back … The NEA fought hard to make sure that DeVos’ confirmation as education secretary was defeated in the Senate. It lost that fight. But instead of being gracious in defeat, the President of the NEA, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, turned spiteful and bitter. By contrast, Secretary DeVos took the higher ground. Despite being continually insulted by Ms. Garcia in the lead up to the Senate confirmation ... “Betsy DeVos is not qualified, and even more than unqualified, Betsy DeVos is an actual danger to students.” ... DeVos took the time to call Ms. Garcia hoping to open up a dialogue on issues important to both the NEA and the DOE. But the NEA President flatly turned her down: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called me the other day saying we should talk. But this seems premature. So I sent her a letter, asking for the answers that we didn’t get from her confirmation hearing. I have yet to receive a response …” This was wrong. WHAT GARCIA SHOULD HAVE DONE - Don't start a conversation with an ultimatum Instead of setting up parameters for the first meeting (“I sent her a letter, asking for the answers …”), Garcia should simply have met with DeVos on an informal basis in order to establish some kind of rapport. At this initial meeting, Garcia could possibly have presented DeVos with the questions that she wanted her to answer. Or maybe during the meeting she could have mentioned the questions to DeVos and let her know that she would be following up with a letter. Even Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, met with DeVos and spent some time touring schools in Ohio with her. She didn’t refuse to meet on principle like Garcia did. “Despite a strained relationship , Ms. DeVos and Ms. Weingarten had a short meeting of the minds in the spring, when they toured schools together in Van Wert, Ohio.” NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia's strategy to cut off any kind of dialogue from the very start was both selfish and ill-conceived. You don’t start off a conversation with an ultimatum! ... unless you have an ulterior motive, that is ... THE HISTORY OF THE CAMPAIGN TO OUST DEVOS Is it far-fetched to claim that the NEA engaged in an active, calculated and methodical campaign to oust DeVos? Let us lay out a brief timeline of events and let the reader decide for himself: Early Expression of Dislike for DeVos November 23, 2016 “By nominating Betsy DeVos, the Trump administration has demonstrated just how out of touch it is with what works best for students, parents, educators and communities.” December 21, 2016 “For the first time, we are at risk of having a secretary of education who not only hasn’t spent any time with public-school students, but has devoted two decades to pushing policies that undermine the schools they attend.” The Run-up to the DeVos Confirmation Hearings January 17, 2017 “Betsy DeVos, who has spent decades working to dismantle public education and privatize public schools, is dangerously unqualified … She is out of her league … she is unqualified and lacks the experience in public education that Americans expect from their secretary of education.” January 25, 2017 “MSNBC: We are alarmed, we are appalled, we are taking action!” January 27, 2017 “In my years as a public education advocate, I have never witnessed this level of public outcry. Clearly Betsy DeVos’ nomination—as unqualified and as unprepared as she is—has touched a raw nerve not only with public education advocates like me but with the general public as well.” February 2, 2017 “Spectrum: DeVos rankles autism community” Palpable Disappointment as DeVos is Confirmed February 7, 2017 “America is speaking out. The level of energy is palpable … We are going to watch what Betsy DeVos does. And we are going to hold her accountable for the actions and decisions she makes on behalf of the more than 50 million students in our nation’s public schools.” February 9, 2017 "You called, emailed, marched and told everyone on Facebook how much you care about public education. Now it's time to take that energy/frustration/inspiration and stand up for your local public school.” The Letter – Garcia Draws a “Line in the Sand” February 17, 2017 “Secretary Betsy DeVos called me the other day saying we should talk. But this seems premature … So I sent her a letter, asking for the answers that we didn’t get from her confirmation hearing. I have yet to receive a response …” The Criticism Continues March 03, 2017 “The Trump-DeVos agenda does nothing to provide opportunity to all of our students.” April 10, 2017 “Unregulated private charters, Uber and the world of Betsy DeVos.” May 23, 2017 “NEA President: Trump-DeVos budget is a wrecking ball aimed at public schools.” The Ultimatum – Answer the Letter or Else … New Business Item 52 (2017) June 30, 2017 - July 5, 2017 “If the questions asked to the Secretary of Education by the president of the NEA are not answered by 9/1/17 the NEA will request the resignation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education should she fail to respond to the satisfaction of the NEA governance regarding the questions posed by President Eskelsen-Garcia in her letter.” Campaign to Oust DeVos Picks up Momentum July 2, 2017 “I will not allow the National Education Association to be used by Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos … I do not trust their motives. I do not believe their alternative facts. I see no reason to assume they will do what is best for our students and their families. There will be no photo-op!” “We will not find common ground with an administration that is cruel and callous to our children and their families.” July 06, 2017 “NEA applauds lawsuit against Education Department, DeVos” “The National Education Association applauds the decision by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and 18 other states …” July 14, 2017 “Under DeVos, the most unqualified, out-of-touch secretary ever to head the department” October 26, 2017 “I forced myself to listen to her speech and the question-and-answer session moderated by Paul E. Peterson, a professor at Harvard and advocate of voucher programs. At times, I felt like I was getting a root canal without novocaine from the dentist in ‘The Little Shop of Horrors.’” THE PUBLICITY STUNT AND THE CALL FOR RESIGNATION Unfortunately for the NEA, none of this criticism was making much headway - the campaign was failing. DeVos was still the Secretary of Education, and both she and Trump were continuing to pursue their agenda. Clearly, the NEA needed another strategy – and thus the Report Card Publicity Stunt was born … First the NEA encouraged its members to fill out “report cards” giving an “F” grade to Betsy DeVos for her education policies. “Betsy DeVos has failed to make the grade” “Issue DeVos her first-year report card” “We’ve had a year of Betsy DeVos and her schemes to undermine great public schools. It’s time we let her know exactly how she’s failed our students.” Then they planned the Washington DC publicity stunt which we described at the start of this blog post. The NEA President was to go to Washington with boxes of “report cards,” march on down to the Department of Education to deliver them, and then hold a rally outside the building with the TV cameras rolling. Needless to say, all of this was orchestrated well in advance. In fact, the Secretary of Education should have known it was coming because the day before the visit to Washington, Garcia was already asking for DeVos resignation on her Blackboard: “Betsy DeVos has failed our students. It is time for her to resign.” The NEA even set up a website where its members could sign a petition supporting the resignation of Betsy DeVos: Tell Betsy DeVos: It's Time to Resign CONCLUSION: DeVos and Garcia BOTH support education for our children From what we can tell, the feud between DeVos and Garcia is based on a disagreement about the best way to educate our children. The NEA President would have you believe that evil Betsy DeVos is out to destroy education in the United States while the angelic NEA is here to save it. This is ridiculous. In fact, they both have similar goals - they just differ as to how to achieve them. If you don’t believe us, just read the following two quotes which we included in a previous Anti-NEA blog post. They are especially relevant here: “Above all, I believe every child, no matter their zip code or their parents’ jobs, deserves access to a quality education.” DOE Secretary Betsy DeVos “… we continue to stand up for our shared values that every student, regardless of their zip code, deserves a great public education.” NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia If you keep an open mind, you will note that the only difference in point of view is that DeVos wants “quality education” and Garcia wants “”great public education.” They are both interested in the education of our children. So why can’t they just get together and work this all out? This question should be directed to the NEA. It’s time for Lily Eskelsen Garcia and the NEA to stop trying to undermine the Secretary of Education and her agenda just because they don’t agree with it 100%. Is the NEA familiar with the word “compromise?” If Lily Eskelsen Garcia wants to prove that she is really a leader, she needs to swallow her pride, admit that her original approach was wrong and agree to sit down across the table from Betsy DeVos and have a conversation. Stop being stubborn Ms. Garcia - remember, it’s for the children … |
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October 2018
AuthorJonathan Smith - A New Jersey Public School Teacher who disagrees with the National Education Association. |