New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
Conservative activist James O'Keefe released this damning video about the New Jersey teachers unions yesterday. I would embed the video in this post, but some of the teachers' quotes are not appropriate for this family blog. Be sure to watch it here though. It's incredibly revealing.
Since I can't embed the video, which is titled "Teachers Unions Gone Wild," let me present you with some of its highlights. The video opens with a group of teachers partying in a lavish hotel lobby. The occasion is a New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) leadership conference. These union leaders spend their conference time in the lobby drinking, dancing--and, yes, even playing video games. One miscreant says, "Hahaha, we're playing video games on their dime....screw you!"
As the video progresses, teachers boast about how hard it is to fire a tenured teacher. One female teacher explains, “It’s really hard to fire a tenured teacher...It’s really hard – like you seriously have to be in the hallway [expletive deleted] somebody.” And it continues: "We had a teacher that just recently [said to a student] – 'you [racist expletive deleted].' He's been moved down...but he's still teaching."
Another male teacher is heard saying, "I have a masters at Rutgers... Educational Administration. With that I can be a principal. I can really [expletive deleted] with kids. [laughter]."
The video narrator notes, "no one can stop this wild party, not even Chris Christie."
"Chris Christie is a [expletive deleted]," one educator says.
The teachers also are heard chanting: “let’s have a whiskey and get a little misty. Join me now and slander Chris Christie!" and "Read, write and arithmetic. Here comes Christie with a whipping stick!”
What's most interesting about this to me is Christie's statesman-like reaction to the malice and bacchanalia of the teacher's union. Asked to comment, Christie's spokesman simply called the video, “distressing – and revealing – to say the least.”
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
This is why, as a New Jersey taxpayer, I'm telling you all to stop it with this talk about Christie being a presidential candidate in 2012.
You can't have him. He's ours. Get your own.
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
Publius: This is why, as a New Jersey taxpayer, I'm telling you all to stop it with this talk about Christie being a presidential candidate in 2012.
You can't have him. He's ours. Get your own. · Oct 26 at 8:20am
Hear, hear.
Jun '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
Just from an integrity standpoint, who'd want to let these people anywhere near their kids. How would you like your child ending up with the same values that these teachers exhibit? They'll spend six hours a day with your child, and their morals are going to rub off.
Aug '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
James O'Keefe is a rockstar. Acorn takedown was so cool. The Landrieu thing was a failure, can't win 'em all. And we have to give credit to Breitbart for enabling things.
These people are laughing at the citizenry. Somewhere,some little old tea party grandma is furiously knitting away. You think the disenfranchising the military in-theater voting would be enough to push granny lafarge to action ?
Watching drunk school administrators and stewards go off at a convention is pretty tame. Come to Missouri where the congressional candidates block the exits with SEIU thugs, where they beat down people in the crowds, then have the victim's brother fired from his job the day before Christmas.
We have to enshrine these magic video moments and make sure that people continue to see them, because they get no exposure in the MSM.
Aug '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
My only problem with O'Keefe is that I wish he would "play these things straight." Imagine how damaging it would have been had he walked into ACORN and requested aid, but made it clear he didn't qualify, and they took him through the steps on how to beat the system.
Imagine how damaging it would be if these were candid undercover conversations with teachers that demonstrated, without actors and inserts, how corrupt the teacher's unions really are. They are worse than what O'Keefe is presenting, and any attempt to "lighten the mood" allows opponents to be dismissive.
Better to follow the Stossel model, or the undercover journo model in general, than to follow the Michael Moore model.
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
Did anyone else find the most horrifying moment of the video to be this below?
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
Publius: This is why, as a New Jersey taxpayer, I'm telling you all to stop it with this talk about Christie being a presidential candidate in 2012.
You can't have him. He's ours. Get your own. · Oct 26 at 8:20am
How about we promote Chris Christie to President since we have Steve Lonegan to step up and be Governor of NJ?
Everyone wins!
Sep '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
My favorite part of this story is what showed up when I read the story: http://atomicmarshmallow.com/ricochet.jpg
Oct '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
About $10,000 per year per student is spent in the U.S. For 100 students,. that's a budget of a $1,000,000. Walk into any office of any kind in any town and select three honest people, totally at random. Tell them: "I need you to educate 100 kids. Here's a million bucks for the first year."
Does anyone not think these people would do a really nice job of it- especially with that kind of money?
No, they will not be the ones teaching! They don't need to teach! There's plenty of money there to hire excellent, experienced teachers- as well as pay rent, heat, insurance, books, labs, PC's, etc.
Bottom line: given our current per-child budget, any three random people in the US could do a better job of educating our children than our public school systems. The video should come as no surprise.
Oct '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
granny lafarge ... classic, man. But if I may nitpick your sly, and very enjoyable barb, it should be "granny defarge." Especially given the topic of the thread ...
Sep '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
As a public school teacher, I wish could refute some of the statements above. Unfortunately, I can not. Although I have only known a couple of teachers that were as brazen as the ones portrayed above, I know plenty of them who are quite ignorant. Brainwashed in methodology and political correctness, they know little of anything else. Here are some examples.
A new teacher at my school did not know who Tom Sawyer was.
A teacher once confided in me that in college she bounced checks because she thought having more checks left in the checkbook meant she could continue to write checks.
A principal, trying to motivate us to try harder, wondered why half the kids on our class lists were below the class' median for reading and math. (All but one in my class was above the proficiency level). Several teachers left the meeting feeling quite guilty.
An administrator wanted to know if I was going to continue to teach my students about nouns and verbs, the tacit message being that doing so would be a waste of time.
Most of the teachers I have known do not read and know little of current events. Need I continue?
Jul '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
A sense of entitlement is the single most corrosive factor in a democratic society. That sense just oozes from these comments. Public sector unions breed that sense, big time.
On the other hand, as a former fraternity boy, I have a little sympathy for folks getting a little crazy at a convention. Bear that in mind when I run for President.
Sep '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
We had this fascinating discussion about elitism a thread or two away from here and here is best reason why education is coming more and more only to those who can pay for it.
Oct '10
Re: New Jersey Teachers Unions Gone Wild
Governor Christie replies:
“I think that this video makes the distinction better than I ever could. This is their leadership conference where they’re in a hotel, having this leadership conference, singing songs together about kicking the governor in his tool box. I wonder what they mean by that? But I can tell you I sense it would hurt…
“They have a teacher, leadership of the union, playing arcade games at this leadership conference and laughing and saying ‘isn’t this great? I get to play arcade games on your dime.’
“I don’t care, candidly, that they chant and sing about me in a not very nice way. I’m the Governor of New Jersey, there are gonna be people who say bad things about me every day. That’s fine, I don’t care, I really don’t. This video is not about the things they say about me, this video is about the things they say about themselves. About themselves. And if you need an example of what I’ve been talking about for the last nine months about how the teachers’ union leadership is out of touch with the people and out of control.”