I recently discovered a post from 13 years ago while reviewing some old websites I’d created. Some pages were worth saving, such as those I created for Boy Scout trips. The following is another such post, which I’d written to capture some observations and opinions that formed while watching coverage of protests in Wisconsin in 2011.

OK, so this is 13-year-old content and not seemingly relevant. However, the timing of my rediscovery struck me, since it’s back-to-school time and the subject of teaching and education is a topic on the national stage.

Without further preface, here is the article, lightly edited for 2024 (family changes, new info, grammar).

NOTE: My wife is a teacher. My parents were teachers. My older son and his fiancé work for the Special Ed department. My younger son’s special needs mean he is dependent upon adequate education funding. We have friends who are teachers and work in school districts. I have an obvious bias. Despite that, I consider teachers an investment in the future of our children and our country.

Watching the events in Wisconsin — the protests, the speeches, the commentary — I think I finally figured out why teachers need unions.

It’s not to ensure that these teachers working with our children are treating the kids respectfully, sometimes better than the kids’ parents.

It’s not to ensure teachers get out of work at 2:33 so they can go home to spend the night correcting papers, developing lesson plans, or buying supplies with their own money.

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