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In the past few weeks, I’ve written a critique about the National Education Association and other unions, too. They’ve been busy trying to control the curriculum, the teachers, and the book publishers. And they’ve been very successful.
But this time, they’ve gone too far:
The National Education Association (NEA) was hit with a federal complaint Monday alleging that it subjected Jewish members to an antisemitic environment, according to a copy of the complaint shared with the Washington Free Beacon. The complaint, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleges that the nation’s largest teachers’ union allowed activists within the organization to harass Jewish members.
Actions by non-Jewish members included shouting down Jewish members who were trying to weigh in on a resolution to ban Anti-Defamation League materials from the classrooms. One reaction was especially abhorrent:
The filing also describes an incident in which a Jewish member speaking against the resolution referenced a recent attack in Boulder, Colorado, that killed an 82-year-old woman and was met with ‘laughter and clapping’ by some attendees.
During the NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly, Jews were singled out for attacks:
‘Delegates aligned with anti-Israel advocacy physically positioned themselves near Jewish Affairs Caucus members, shouted down Jewish participants, and created an atmosphere in which Jewish delegates reasonably feared retaliation and physical harm,’ the complaint alleged.'
These incidents represent only a portion of the anti-Semitic complaints against the NEA. The organization has not taken action against those who have disrupted proceedings. They have not spoken out in defense of the Jews or criticized those who have attacked Jews.
Especially sad, this behavior isn’t historically what has taken place:
‘The historical record shows that, whatever their shortcomings, previous generations of teacher-union leaders stood up to antisemitism in K-12 schools on behalf of their Jewish members and promoted strong US support for Israel in the face of existential attacks on that country,’ union antisemitism expert Paul Zimmerman wrote in a damning report on the subject published in September. ‘Now, antisemitic activists grossly dishonor that legacy by weaponizing teacher unions to spread antisemitism, intimidate Jewish teachers, and recast the classroom as a battlefield against the West.’
If the NEA is mistreating its Jewish members, you can be sure they are also trying to manipulate students, too. Antisemitism knows no boundaries.
Discussion (6)
CHARTER MEMBER
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It is abhorrent that a national organization would presume to dictate anything with regard to American classrooms. In America, that authority lies primarily with local school boards and the parents of students, not national politically-driven organizations intended to drive false consensuses, whether they come from the NEA, the ADL, or me. The acts you describe from the NEA Assembly are emblematic of the widespread corruption under the current scheme. It's a pity that Trump gave up his political capital for domestic reform to launch a problematic war, or he might have had the political clout to address these critical issues.
Thank you for raising this important issue. I have spent decades arguing for education reform, only to have my conservative friends answer that all ills would be rectified when our children had to earn a living and were exposed to the withholding statements on pay stubs, leaving the teacher unions full reign to despoil our nation. Who in the current administration best positioned to pursue the necessary reforms?
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Good question. I wonder if the current Secty. of Education will be sticking around. She's fought for some important changes. This is one that definitely needs addressing. I'm not so sure that our kids are going to learn what they need to learn in this crazy world.
CHARTER MEMBER
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As a broken record, if we abolish compulsory education there is no ‘official curriculum’ to fight over, the scope for innovation in preparing young people for the world is opened up and parents’ choices will explode. And ideologically-driven unions will face their reckoning; or, rather, be rendered irrelevant.
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Your comments are always a good reminder of how we've locked ourselves in to this mess.
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IIRC, the original intent of the public school system was 1) to create good citizens (ones who wouldn't rebel or challenge authority), and 2) good workers (to facilitate the industrialization of the US) . . .
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