Benji Backer is the kind of student teachers dream about, or should; a young man who takes seriously what he learns in the classroom and is just as serious at applying it to his life outside of school. Unfortunately, because he has, he’s learned some hard lessons about how people’s fears can be manipulated and that unions are masters of […]

Ruth Finnegan was a young teacher grading papers in her classroom in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when five men in black suits burst in and demanded she join the union. Terrified, she gathered herself to ask what the union could offer her. “Protection,” they said. To Ruth it sounded like a line from a gangster film. “Protection from being sued.” Ruth told […]

Aaron Benner is an outstanding Minnesota teacher who knows firsthand what happens when students, and teachers, feel unsafe in the classroom. “Safety is critical,” he says. “Learning suddenly is on the back burner, everything goes out the window once the classroom has been compromised. Instead of looking at the teacher, you’re looking over your shoulder. You’re not focused on learning, […]

While there are countless examples of people being forced to fund union activities in direct opposition to their own beliefs – i.e. pro-life advocates forced to watch their money support pro-choice causes – what happened to Jade Thompson and her family may top them all in the most grotesque way. In 2010, Jade, a high school Spanish teacher in Marietta, […]