Are Teachers Essential Workers?

What would happen if during the Covid 19 pandemic that truckers, grocery store employees, and health care providers said they were not going to work because it was too dangerous? The country would be in big trouble because they are essential workers to keep Americans fed and to provide the critical health care coverage to fight the pandemic and save lives. So, the question that begs to be asked is aren’t teachers also essential? My wife is a teacher and I have always stated that teachers are underpaid and underappreciated in our society. I say this because they are not only essential but because they are backbone of our society. Without good teachers society would collapse. In fact, they are more important than healthcare providers because there would be no healthcare providers without teachers and they are more important than grocery workers because good teachers are harder to find. My wife always told me that what caused her the most anxiety as a teacher was seeing any child falling behind. My wife taught first and second grade and she knew the more a child falls behind at that stage of their life the probability of them overcoming those deficiencies will be extremely difficult.

Teacher unions look out for teachers but they do so at the expense of children. The unions want schools closed until there are no more cases of Covid. That could take years because even if there are vaccines there could still be Covid cases. This is unreasonable. Will children and teachers get Covid if schools open? Yes, but the likelihood that any teachers or students die from the virus are very low. It certainly makes sense to protect students and teachers with preexisting conditions such as diabetes, old age, or heart disease.

There has been recent activity and protests concerned about injustices to black citizens. Well, the biggest injustice that can be made to black children is to close schools. Education is the biggest equalizing factor in society. However, urban schools are more likely to be shut down and that means black children will suffer and fall behind.

There were other hypocritical suggestions such as closing schools but opening child care facilities. This makes no sense, if day care facilities can open then so too can schools. Furthermore, teachers will not teach kids but they have no problem protesting outside of government buildings in close proximity with other protestors.

Teacher unions are not open to any negotiating such as having half of students show up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the other half on Tuesday and Thursday. This scheduled can be alternated every other week so each student has 5 days of in school learning every two weeks. This suggestion would allow students to social distance. My point is that there can be some negotiating to help move our educational system forward instead of leaving it stagnate and having children fall behind. Distance learning may help some, but it is no substitute for the real thing.

The BLM Movement Does not Make Sense

Yes, black lives matter as do all lives. But the BLM movement makes very little sense for a number of reasons:

First, the BLM movement only cares about those black lives lost to white persons and the police which is a very small portion of black lives. BLM does not care about the dozens of people killed each day to black crime.

Second, BLM protests that violate the rights of blacks or any citizen by disrupting their work or way of life does not care about those lives.

Third, I have written how erasing history is dangerous but the BLM movement is trashing monuments of abolitionist's such as Frederick Douglass. Furthermore, removing monuments of Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison also means erasing key documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the 13th Amendment, the 14th Amendment, the 15th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and 1875, and the Emancipation Proclamation to name a few. These are the documents that ended slavery.

Fourth, in my book Defending Freedom of Contract I discuss how the Constitution is colorblind, gender blind, and their is no hierarchy of rights. All people are equal with equal fundamental rights. No race or group of persons should be given any preferential treatment for any reason. BLM wants special treatment for their race including restitution. However, Blacks and other groups have been given preferential treatment for decades in the form of affirmative action and diversity programs providing them with educational and employment opportunities at the expense of more qualified persons (not just Whites, it could also be Asians). This is wrong, race should not matter but it does.

In other words, BLM believes all injustice revolves around race and there is no other explanation or variables involved for injustices such as governmental policies that are at the root of all injustices.

I read a statement from the leader of BLM that stated "All lives cannot matter if black lives do not matter". That statement is a truism because the converse is also true if all lives matter than all black lives matter. This proves that BLM does not know what it is talking about and it does not make any sense.

I wrote in my book how "obtaining knowledge" is a fundamental right and All parents should have the right to contract with any school for their children's education. Instead of tearing down private educational opportunities we should be building up these opportunities. Competition to the failing government system is a good thing. Education is the great equalizer in life. This should be the focus instead of violating the rights of some at the expense of others.

Liberal Logic

One liberal family in our neighborhood likes to post signs with their beliefs. The latest sign said "In this house we believe black lives matter, women's reproductive rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, be kind to everyone." What this family does not understand is that all the statements in their declaration are not equal. One refers to blacks only, another refers to women only, another refers to Hispanics, and the last one refers to everyone. If we need to be kind to all then shouldn't ALL lives matter? I am not sure what they mean by science is real. What strikes me as odd is that most people who make such a claim never did well in science, but they think they are experts on all matters science. I had a liberal tell me I do not believe science and technology because I do not own a smart phone. In other words, you are scientist, in their view, if you can text and take selfies. When I explained to the person that the science and technology was what is in the phone, they disagreed. So you are scientist if you can read a scientific article even if you do not understand all the research that went into writing the paper.

As far as reproductive rights there is no such thing in the constitution and even in Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood the Court did not invent such a right. If you read my book human rights are fundamental rights and no fundamental right is controversial. In other words, everyone can agree with 100% certainty with all fundamental rights. Besides, the argument there is a war on women, in particular health rights is not correct. Women live 5 years longer than men and 2 times as much money is spent on research for women health then for men. In other words, there is skew towards more rights for women, in particular healthcare then there is for men.

I agree no person is illegal, and it would sure be nice to be able to take on the World's needy. But it is not practical. I suppose there are also no such thing as felons or criminals.

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