Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers Union

In 2006, Wichita Eagle editorial Cartoonist Richard Crowson received an award from the Kansas teachers union. He’s a “friend of education.” Really. You can read about it here: KNEA’s Friend of Education is Wichita Eagle Editorial Cartoonist Richard Crowson.

I wonder if Crowson realizes the harm that teachers unions cause?

I wonder if he know that teachers unions try to block every attempt at meaningful reform?

Does he know how teachers union stifle creativity in teachers? How they block merit pay proposals, so that the best teachers are paid the same as the worst? No wonder many of the best teachers leave public schools.

Does he know how teachers unions very effectively block most attempts to introduce school choice? (He probably knows this, as his colleagues on the editorial board are firmly against school choice, even though it is a reform that is proven to hold public schools accountable.)

A while back the head of the NEA’s Kansas and Nebraska chapters said “The NEA has been the single biggest obstacle to education reform in this country. We know because we worked for the NEA.”

I’ve wondered why a group of workers who want to be treated as professionals rely on an industrial-style labor union. Some have told me that teachers need to be protected from arbitrary actions by administrators. That might be a valid reason. When an organization like the Wichita school district is not held accountable by a profit and loss system, they can abuse their employees in any way they like. Firms that need to earn a profit must keep their best and most productive employees on board. The Wichita school district faces no such discipline.