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State legislatures are cracking down on the operations of teachers’ unions · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:23
  Ron DeSantis and Floridians are doing their part to keep teachers' unions in check.
• 0:31
  We're going to get into it.
• 0:32
  You're listening to the Dean's List on America Out Loud Talk Radio.
• 0:36
  Thanks for joining me today, everybody.
• 0:39
  It's an honor to have you on board.
• 0:40
  It's a pleasure.
• 0:42
  I'm happy to have such an active, viable audience.
• 0:45
  This audience is alive and awake.
• 0:48
  And I don't know, maybe, maybe because of history class.
• 0:52
  We're also going to history class today.
• 0:54
  In addition to discussing what Ron DeSantis is doing on the front to keep teachers' unions in check.
• 1:03
  It's a history class.
• 1:05
  And it's a it's a solemn history class.
• 1:10
  It's a solemn anniversary today.
• 1:12
  And we're going to get to it right at the onset.
• 1:15
  Here we go.
• 1:16
  Strap in your seatbelts, kids, because history class awaits Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1:25
  That's where we're going today.
• 1:28
  The first military burial took place in Arlington this day in 1864.
• 1:36
  1864.
• 1:38
  On May 13th, 1864, Union soldiers buried the remains of 21-year-old Private William Henry Christman.
• 1:49
  Chrisman was of the 67th Pennsylvania Infantry.
• 1:54
  He died two days earlier in a Washington, D.C.
• 1:58
  hospital from complications related to measles.
• 2:03
  The Civil War was entering its third year, and cemeteries in the Capitol were full.
• 2:10
  There was no room left.
• 2:11
  So a private Christman was laid to rest in a new burial ground on the Virginia side of the Potomac, on the edge of an estate once belonging to Confederate General Robert E.
• 2:23
  Lee.
• 2:24
  Thus becoming the first soldier interred in what is now Arlington National Cemetery.
• 2:31
  One month later, the War Department officially designated Lee's estate as a military cemetery.
• 2:40
  Is it not?
• 2:42
  I think it is.
• 2:43
  The section was instigated by quartermaster General Montgomery Meegs, who considered the Confederate general a traitor and wanted to make sure his family could never return to their home.
• 2:57
  Today, Arlington covers 624 acres and contains more than 300,000 graves.
• 3:07
  It averages 28 funerals a day, Monday through Friday.
• 3:12
  Veterans of every conflict since the Revolutionary War are buried in Arlington.
• 3:19
  Until 1967, all honorably discharged veterans could be buried at Arlington.
• 3:26
  Since that time, to conserve space, the Army has restricted burials to those who meet certain requirements, such as members of the armed forces who die on active duty or who serve long enough to officially retire.
• 3:41
  Arlington National Cemetery is home to several famous monuments, including the tomb of the unknown soldier, President John F.
• 3:51
  Kennedy's grave, and the Lee Mansion.
• 3:54
  The um the Lee Mansion is maintained by the National Park Service as a memorial to Robert E.
• 4:01
  Lee.
• 4:02
  Most striking, however, are the miles of small white stones making the graves of those who served their country.
• 4:10
  These make the place one of the nation's most revered grounds.
• 4:16
  Arlington National Cemetery.
• 4:38
  One in which we fought to end an evil.
• 4:49
  Fighting to end an evil.
• 5:28
  Again, it's only for the military.
• 5:32
  And that this particular cemetery has what's called an avenue of flags.
• 5:37
  And it is the uh gentleman who was giving us the guide, the tour, stated that that cemetery is one of the few that actually has an avenue of flags wherein the flags stay up.
• 5:52
  They're not lit, but they they stay up, they don't come down.
• 5:56
  And they that the cemetery needed special permission from Congress in order for that to happen, because you know if you keep a flag flying 24-7 in the dark, it has to be lit.
• 6:08
  There's got to be a light on it.
• 6:21
  While we were there, a funeral was taking place or a committal, as it were.
• 6:29
  And uh we heard the salute, the 21 gun salute.
• 6:33
  Uh and then just to hear the silence afterwards.
• 6:38
  Uh just to feel the awe and the reverence and the respect.
• 6:44
  The stones there at Great Lakes National Cemetery are beautiful white, and they're in that line just like they are in Arlington.
• 6:53
  Uh and it's uh it's just a moment.
• 6:57
  It was just a beautiful moment to be there to listen to that 21 gun salute as an American soldier was laid to rest.
• 7:00
  Be there to listen to that 21 gun salute as an American soldier was laid to rest.
• 7:09
  It is it's special.
• 7:09
  It is it's special.
• 7:10
  I'm telling you, if you get an opportunity to visit a national cemetery, whether Arlington or Great Lakes or you know, wherever, it's just one of those things that is um it fills you with awe.
• 7:11
  I'm telling you, if you get an opportunity to visit a national cemetery, whether Arlington or Great Lakes or you know, wherever.
• 7:19
  It's just one of those things that is it fills you with awe.
• 7:25
  It fills you with reverence.
• 7:25
  It fills you with reverence, it fills you with respect.
• 7:27
  It fills you with respect.
• 7:31
  Um the solemnness of the moment.
• 7:37
  I don't know how else to term it.
• 7:40
  I I don't know how else to describe it, except maybe patriotism.
• 7:45
  Maybe you're you're you're filled with patriotism.
• 7:50
  Uh you are certainly one is certainly filled with love for their country.
• 7:56
  And I think our students need more of that.
• 7:58
  I think our students need to need to visit these places, and they need to take part in cleaning the stones.
• 8:06
  And our kids love it.
• 8:07
  This is this is one of their favorite service projects.
• 8:11
  We we take a service project every single month, and this is one of their one of their favorite.
• 8:20
  They often come back and say, This, this is our favorite.
• 8:23
  We love doing this.
• 8:24
  And the people there at the cemetery love having us.
• 8:27
  They matter of fact, he told me, he said, I love it when you guys are on the docket because your kids are they're they're respectful.
• 8:34
  They they get it, they're honorable, they they understand uh ultimately what's at stake.
• 8:42
  And and they understand how to how to respect the grounds, how to respect the past, as it were.
• 8:53
  And I I believe wholeheartedly that this attitude, this attitude of respect and and patriotism, this attitude of love and and this attitude to give honor to the past should be ingrained in our student body.
• 9:12
  I think it should be ingrained in the population here.
• 9:15
  I think it should be ingrained in the hearts and minds of young people, instead of telling them that they should protest law enforcement, instead of telling them that they should go out on the streets and get signs and protest emigration laws and immigration officers.
• 9:34
  The opposite of respect is being ingrained in their hearts and minds.
• 9:40
  They're we're missing something, we're losing something.
• 9:46
  We are we are losing uh the memory of something beautiful when our our students are told and encouraged to uh disregard law enforcement, disregard uh in this case, you know, May 1st, they were the focus was immigration laws.
• 10:10
  Just disregard it.
• 10:11
  Just get a sign, go out on the street and protest ice.
• 10:15
  How dare they?
• 10:15
  How dare they take our neighbors?
• 10:18
  How dare they come into our schools and and and how dare they do that?
• 10:22
  How dare they?
• 10:24
  Uh they're not being number one, they're not being taught our laws.
• 10:30
  They don't understand them.
• 10:31
  They're not being taught to revere our laws.
• 10:36
  The exact opposite holds true.
• 10:38
  They're they're being taught anarchy.
• 10:41
  Hey, if you if you don't like it, then you fight it.
• 10:45
  There's some particular truth in that.
• 10:48
  If you don't like it, fight it.
• 10:52
  You know, this is the premise of the revolutionary war.
• 11:00
  But they're being taught not to like something that is that is important, something that is something that is beautiful.
• 11:14
  One of the saddest elements of this is that our our teachers' unions are in support of such action.
• 11:21
  They are in support of such activity.
• 11:24
  They're they're they're out there on the websites of these organizations that are spearheading these movements and they're they're cheering them on.
• 11:33
  And that's why we have teachers in the classroom cheering on these movements, cheering on our students to make signs and go out and protest without actually teaching them that they don't understand the law.
• 11:48
  They don't do they understand the importance of of having a border and having laws that protect the border, having immigration laws.
• 12:00
  That do they understand the underlying economic purposes behind these laws, the moral purposes behind these laws.
• 12:08
  I dare say they don't, because those elements aren't being taught.
• 12:15
  And it would require so much more to it, it would there's got to be an attitude of patriotism when when teaching these laws to young people because patriotism is foundational to it.
• 12:32
  Uh, but instead, that's not happening.
• 12:37
  That's not the case.
• 12:39
  It's there is a um, unfortunately, there is this underlying movement to remove patriotism from the hearts and minds of our student bodies.
• 12:52
  We talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
• 12:54
  Linda McMahon uh mentioned this at a at a talk she was giving, a talk she was involved in, where she said on on their 250th tour, she stopped at this public school.
• 13:04
  And of course, they set up their displays, and part of their displays include the words to the Pledge of Allegiance.
• 13:11
  And the principal came to her and and just thanked her so much because of she had the words to the pledge on display.
• 13:19
  And he said, the kids here at this school, they they don't know the pledge because we don't recite it every morning.
• 13:26
  And unbeknownst to to her at the time, this school had decided to opt out of saying the pledge.
• 13:33
  I guess you can opt out.
• 13:34
  You don't have to say it if you don't want to say it.
• 13:37
  It's not um not a requirement.
• 13:40
  And so for whatever reason, this school board or administrator, I don't know who made the decision, but they decided that during the morning were normal schools.
• 13:52
  I say normal.
• 13:53
  A lot of schools normally are reciting the pledge.
• 13:56
  It's one of the first things that we do.
• 13:58
  This particular school chose not to.
• 14:00
  Chose not to.
• 14:01
  And the kids didn't know the pledge.
• 14:01
  And the kids didn't know the pledge.
• 14:03
  And when Lyndon McMahon says that when the principal got up to invite the kids to stand for the pledge, he told them, no, no, look, I mean, I understand this, you're not pledging your allegiance to any particular flag.
• 14:03
  And when Lyndon McMahon says that when the principal got up to invite the kids to stand for the pledge, he told them, no, no, look, I mean, I understand this, you're not pledging your allegiance to any particular flag.
• 14:16
  You're you're pledging your your allegiance to it to a spirit.
• 14:16
  You you you're you you're pledging your your allegiance to it to a spirit, more to an idea, not to a flag.
• 14:21
  More to an idea, not to a flag.
• 14:24
  So really, when you're saying the budget, you can you can consider any any flag that you you can make this.
• 14:24
  So really, when you're saying the pledge, you can you can consider any any flag that you can make this pledge to any flag you want.
• 14:32
  And it makes me wonder did the principal even know the pledge because it specifically says that you're pledging your allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
• 14:43
  I mean, there's there's no other opportunity to insert any other flag in there.
• 14:47
  You're not pledging your allegiance to the flag of Ukraine.
• 14:52
  You're not pledging your allegiance to the flag of Cambodia, China, Mexico.
• 14:58
  Uh, I don't know.
• 15:00
  Pick a place that you're not pledging your allegiance to the flag of a state, even you're not pledging your allegiance to the Christian flag or to the what I mean, insert any flag.
• 15:11
  This pledge is to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, which by the way, is it doesn't say democracy, it just says republic.
• 15:24
  The pledge is specific, and it's specific for a reason.
• 15:28
  And we're doing this as because as the pledge recognizes we are one nation under God, that we we believe in the sovereignty of God.
• 15:40
  We believe in uh in his rule over our lives, over our hearts, over our country.
• 15:48
  That's what we believe in.
• 15:50
  That's that's that's what the pledge embodies.
• 15:53
  Those words embody it.
• 15:56
  Saying the pledge might be one of the most patriotic acts that a young person can grow up doing.
• 16:04
  Young people aren't out um, you know, going to war, they're not out uh, you know, doing other things that we might classify as as patriotism.
• 16:15
  Uh, but they can engage in it by by saying the pledge Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, not flags, flag, singular of the United States of America.
• 16:28
  That patriotism becomes ingrained in their hearts, in their minds, and they're uh but if they're not given the opportunity to learn it and say it and know it, but instead they're they're given an opportunity to make posters in their classrooms and go out on the streets and protest law enforcement, laws that they don't understand because they've not been taught to revere.
• 16:55
  They've not been taught uh to reverence those laws, so they don't understand them.
• 17:03
  They um they're left clueless.
• 17:07
  Unfortunately, they they are left.
• 17:11
  What'll change this?
• 17:14
  Maybe, maybe a place to start is affecting the teachers' unions, perhaps.
• 17:19
  Perhaps.
• 17:20
  I don't know.
• 17:21
  I'm just maybe that they are certainly engaged in and and spearheading this.
• 17:27
  And so I want I want to dive into this this piece here.
• 17:30
  Actually, Gifford has two pieces that I that I'd like to pay attention to.
• 17:34
  This first one is involving uh the Freedom Foundation, and the Freedom Foundation says more than 272,000 teachers have opted out of union membership.
• 17:45
  That's number one.
• 17:46
  There's a second piece by Gifford, if if I can get to it, that uh involves a lawsuit, a complaint out of uh Washington, the state of Washington, where uh the NEA, the nation's largest teachers union, has uh been the the allegation is that the NEA has been uh conducting uh or engaging in activity that's um laced in anti-Semitism.
• 18:18
  And uh if if that's true, if the allegations are are true, then uh it is another, just another, another of many black marks pasted on to the teachers' unions.
• 18:32
  All right, uh, I'm gonna get into both of these articles on the other side of this break.
• 18:36
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  All right.
• 21:58
  So Aaron Gifford, let's let's dive into this piece.
• 22:01
  It's titled More States ENAT New Laws Curbing Teachers Unions.
• 22:06
  Now, why do you think the states would want to curb teachers' unions?
• 22:10
  Well, really?
• 22:11
  I mean, this is why why do this?
• 22:15
  New organized labor reforms signed into law by DeSantis last week, Gifford says, require a majority of members to be present for teachers' union certification or recertification votes.
• 22:33
  The measure increases fines for illegal strikes and it establishes merit-based pay for educators.
• 22:41
  Ah, kid, can you believe that?
• 22:44
  We would actually pay based on merit, not ideology.
• 22:49
  In Idaho, after July 1st, teachers' unions will be prohibited from collecting dues directly from members' paychecks.
• 22:57
  Using paid time off for union activities or recruiting new members during school hours.
• 23:06
  Similar law in Arizona, which also bans teacher strikes and prohibits organized labor members from using any school property, even email addresses for union activities, will be decided on by voters in the November election.
• 23:21
  Let's go.
• 23:22
  Let's let's put it, let's put it to a vote.
• 23:27
  Rusty Brown is the special projects director for the Freedom Foundation.
• 23:32
  Freedom Foundation is a policy organization that assisted state legislators with these measures, and it also helps teachers opt out of union membership.
• 23:45
  Rusty Brown said that they can't consume taxpayer funded resources during the school day no longer.
• 23:51
  I mean, this has been they've been double dipping for a long time.
• 23:56
  But we're gonna we're gonna put an end to it.
• 23:59
  We're gonna we're gonna put a stop to it.
• 24:02
  These ideas are expected to gain ground throughout the nation in the months and years ahead.
• 24:08
  Brown told Gifford individually, the Freedom Foundation has so far helped more than 272,000 teachers in both red and blue states opt out of the membership of teachers unions, including more than 50,000 members in 2025 alone.
• 24:30
  Uh 50 50,000 in 2025 at the state level.
• 24:38
  Oklahoma lawmakers have advanced legislation that would allow teachers to withdraw from a union at any time and would terminate closed shop provisions that prevent teachers from accessing alternative labor or professional organizations, such as the Teacher Freedom Alliance.
• 25:02
  Bump bum bum.
• 25:07
  Brown here calls this bill uh equal access and an end to a monopoly and captive audience.
• 25:17
  Alternative organizations can offer teacher liability insurance.
• 25:23
  They can offer other benefits at a fraction of the price that traditional unions charge, according to Brown.
• 25:31
  Uh, he said that he believes the legislation could pass before Oklahoma's session ends later this month, but the member withdrawal proposal probably won't go through this session.
• 25:44
  Meanwhile, Alabama state lawmakers will consider legislation similar to Oklahoma's in their next session.
• 25:53
  Uh Max Ford Nelson is the Freedom Foundation's director of research in government affairs.
• 26:01
  Nelson said several factors prompted growing interest and pushing back against teachers' unions.
• 26:08
  Members don't like that the dudes are automatically deducted from their paychecks.
• 26:17
  There's this increasing animosity toward what he calls zombie unions, in which a limited number of members are informed or allowed to vote on matters, and labor organizations engage in practices that create very narrow windows and bureaucratic hurdles for terminating membership.
• 26:37
  I think this might play into this um complaint out of out of Washington, which we'll, you know, we'll get into here.
• 26:52
  Nelson told Gifford, citing one union's rules limiting opt-outs to the last 10 days of July.
• 27:01
  I mean, can you I mean, think about it?
• 27:03
  You only allowed to opt out during the last 10 days of July.
• 27:09
  What?
• 27:09
  What?
• 27:10
  Well, what's the purpose behind that?
• 27:11
  Why can't you opt out whenever you want to opt out?
• 27:14
  Why do you have to have this narrow window when many teachers are on vacation?
• 27:20
  Many teachers are out doing other things.
• 27:22
  Well, that's what's why right there.
• 27:23
  It's on purpose because they're gonna be, you know, that's I'm sorry, that's the that's the opt-out window.
• 27:29
  And um, if you're on vacation, then I guess you're on vacation, and you're not gonna be able to opt out.
• 27:37
  I mean, it's genius on their part.
• 27:41
  But it's gotta stop ultimately.
• 27:44
  We we, you know, we gotta be done with this.
• 27:47
  Perhaps the most contentious issue, Nelson said, is how teachers' union dues are spent.
• 27:54
  And here we go.
• 27:55
  This is the biggie.
• 27:57
  A review of the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers Unions websites show that both heavily favored Democrats and promote, are you ready?
• 28:00
  And the American Federation of Teachers Unions websites show that both heavily favored Democrats and promote, are you ready?
• 28:09
  That promote transgender ideology.
• 28:09
  Promote transgender ideology.
• 28:12
  They promote DEI.
• 28:12
  They promote DEI.
• 28:14
  You got to have diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• 28:14
  You got to have diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• 28:17
  Uh, they promote special protections for illegal immigrants.
• 28:17
  They promote special protections for illegal immigrants.
• 28:22
  Hmm.
• 28:22
  Hmm, really?
• 28:23
  Really?
• 28:23
  Well, we got to have special protection for these illegals.
• 28:23
  We got to have special protection for these illegals.
• 28:27
  Uh, and that's why they're promoting going.
• 28:27
  And that's why they're promoting going out, taking the kids out to the streets and protesting our law enforcement, our border patrol agents.
• 28:40
  Also heavily promote anti-school choice measures because they don't want you to have a choice.
• 28:53
  They would rather that you be forced to do what they want you to do.
• 29:02
  Ultimately, they know and understand that choice would be the death knell.
• 29:08
  If if if there was actual choice, if if parents actually had a choice, and if their property tax dollars could follow them to the school of their choice, their uh this whole thing would change in a heartbeat.
• 29:30
  And they know that.
• 29:31
  They understand that.
• 29:32
  They get it.
• 29:34
  They're not dumb.
• 29:35
  You know, we we got to hand that to them.
• 29:38
  They're not dumb.
• 29:39
  Nelson said that hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into this progressive apparatus.
• 29:44
  Hundreds of millions.
• 29:45
  This is a this is an unbelievable cash cow.
• 29:49
  It's an unbelievable cash cow being operated by the Marxists.
• 29:56
  Uh is there any other way we can describe it?
• 29:58
  I mean, if there is, I'll describe it another way if you think.
• 30:02
  Okay, raise your hand if you think there's another way to describe it.
• 30:05
  I mean, we've we've come to the conclusion in the agreement here that it is being led and conducted by Marxists, right?
• 30:15
  Uh, at least those with heavily Marxist leaning attributes.
• 30:21
  Uh, I mean, the things that they promote are things that that Marxism promotes.
• 30:27
  Just divisive ideology designed to separate, designed to agitate, designed to aggravate, and any other eight you can think of.
• 30:41
  A recent report from Defending Education, which we do love around here, that group.
• 30:47
  Uh, the the report states that teachers' unions at the local, state, and national level.
• 30:53
  Are you ready for this?
• 30:54
  They've spent more than one billion dollars on far-left political causes and issues.
• 31:03
  Unrelated, by the way, to collective bargaining.
• 31:06
  This isn't about making jobs better for teachers.
• 31:11
  It's not about bargaining collectively to make your work environment better or make or to to cause your work situation to be to be better or to be more productive.
• 31:24
  Since 2015, this one billion has just gone to to Democrat policies.
• 31:33
  That's it.
• 31:34
  It's gone to promote DEI, transgender whatever, uh, anti-law protests.
• 31:45
  Um defending education, uh, President Nicole Neely said in a recent statement that given the outsized role that unions have played in the education system over the past 50 years, greater transparency on union spending is absolutely critical, so that policymakers and teachers themselves can make informed decisions about the role that these entities should or should not play in the future.
• 32:13
  The Epoch Times, Gifford here and the gang reached out to the NEA and to the American Federation of Teachers.
• 32:20
  Guess what?
• 32:22
  Crickets, no response, nothing but crickets.
• 32:28
  In response to prior Florida legislation that prohibited teachers' unions from deducting dues directly from paychecks.
• 32:37
  The Florida Education Association contracted with a company to withdraw dues from members' bank accounts after their paychecks were deposited.
• 32:46
  How does that work?
• 32:47
  How are you able to uh get around that?
• 32:53
  Well, we're not we're not taking it directly from their paycheck.
• 32:56
  I mean, their paycheck gets deposited, and then and then we're we're removing it directly from their from their bank account.
• 33:05
  I mean, that's okay.
• 33:06
  There wasn't any language against that in the law.
• 33:11
  The Florida Education Association here defends their actions on their website.
• 33:16
  They state this type of paycheck deception legislation is nothing new and has been wielded across the country to weaken unions and rollback conditions.
• 33:27
  But yet you're not.
• 33:29
  You spent one billion over the last decade, not on conditions unrelated to collective bargaining.
• 33:40
  It's no secret that this legislation is designed to diminish our collective voice.
• 33:52
  Implemented a similar system.
• 33:53
  It also denounced Idaho governor Brad Little for refusing to veto the legislation removing their ability to deduct dues right out of paychecks.
• 34:08
  Lane uh McInley in an April 10th statement said that Idaho's students and the dedicated professionals who teach them will be worse off because of his choice.
• 34:21
  Governor Bradlittle's choice to not veto this bill.
• 34:24
  They deserve better.
• 34:27
  The Freedom Foundation is scrutinizing public organized labor groups across the nation, not just teachers unions.
• 34:35
  In Oregon, it recently submitted a complaint to the state employment relations board on behalf of a union member who said dues were deducted from his paycheck without his authorization.
• 34:47
  He asked for a refund and requested to opt out of the union, only to be told that the window to do so is August 8th through September 9th.
• 34:56
  That's it.
• 34:56
  You got a 30-day window, and you can't opt out beyond that.
• 35:02
  Nelson here did not work on that case, but said this type of practice is common in an era of direct deposits and withdrawals.
• 35:02
  Nelson here did not work on that case, but said this type of practice is common in an era of direct deposits and withdrawals.
• 35:13
  There are no mechanisms in place to verify that the individual worker have authorized the form he said, let alone understand it.
• 35:23
  So teachers' unions are able to just uh plow through, plow through full steam ahead.
• 35:30
  However, the good news here is that uh states are waking up, and there are efforts in place to curb these organizations to curb these unions.
• 35:45
  Uh, if if we want to ultimately, if if we want our country to look different in the future, if if we want it to be patriotic, if we want our citizens to be patriotic, to love patriotism and to revere the law, and then one of two things have to happen.
• 36:05
  Either either we have to regain control of the public system, or we have to put our our kids somewhere else.
• 36:14
  We have to put them in a system that honors tradition, in a system that that honors values, that that honors um virtue, that that just uh that honors goodness that honors truth, that honors beauty, that that's what our kids need.
• 36:35
  That's what they deserve.
• 36:37
  That is what is is required here.
• 36:39
  Our kids deserve an actual education that's going to form and shape their souls.
• 36:44
  I've got an interesting article here that maybe I'll get into when we come out of the break.
• 36:50
  It's called The Architecture of Beauty, and it's uh a letter from the editor in the classical teacher magazine.
• 36:57
  And this uh it's it's not long, it's just you know, five or six paragraphs.
• 37:03
  I don't know, maybe maybe 500 words.
• 37:05
  It's just a quick read.
• 37:06
  I mean, you can read it in minutes.
• 37:08
  The architecture of beauty, and it describes uh why we want kids to be immersed in in beauty and what they can learn from studying things of of beauty, and it's it's the antithesis to what they're being taught right now in the public system.
• 37:29
  And it's it's a beautiful piece.
• 37:31
  All right, we're gonna pick that up on the other side of this break.
• 37:34
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• 39:43
  This is again from Aaron Gifford.
• 39:46
  Uh a Washington-based human rights organization today filed a federal complaint against the NEA, alleging that the teachers' union discriminated against its Jewish members, promoted a hostile environment throughout K-12 public schools.
• 40:05
  Well, that just doesn't seem like the NEA, does it?
• 40:09
  The Lewis D.
• 40:10
  Brandy's Center Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism.
• 40:15
  Filed the charge with the U.S.
• 40:17
  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the the uh Lewis D.
• 40:22
  Brandies, by the way, is the first Jewish Supreme Court justice.
• 40:28
  And so the uh center coalition to combat anti-Semitism, named in his honor, filed these charges with the U.S.
• 40:38
  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• 40:41
  The complaint cited several anti-Semitic incidences.
• 40:46
  Incidents, incidents, incidents, yeah, okay.
• 40:51
  Uh apparently, allegedly, these took place during the NEA's annual meeting last year, all of them.
• 40:59
  As well as a pattern of discrimination, according to the complaint, in which the union, which by the way, has more than three million members.
• 41:08
  Did you know that?
• 41:10
  The NEA alone has three million members.
• 41:13
  Uh the union denied Jewish members opportunities for leadership, mentorship, grievance, and training.
• 41:20
  This is all part of the complaint.
• 41:23
  So the uh the time frame here is their annual meeting last year.
• 41:29
  It took place in July.
• 41:31
  I played clips from it.
• 41:32
  Uh because I mean, at one point, Becky Pringle was screaming and pounding the podium.
• 41:39
  Was that last year's?
• 41:40
  I mean, probably.
• 41:41
  I don't know.
• 41:41
  I think that happens every year.
• 41:44
  So during the July 25 representative assembly event in Portland, Oregon.
• 41:50
  Anti-Israel delegates disrupted and intimidated a speaker who tried to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the union's Jewish affairs caucus, according to the coalition.
• 42:00
  According to the coalition.
• 42:03
  They also surrounded and shouted at Jewish delegates and applauded and laughed at remarks about a former member, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who was murdered in an anti-Semitic attack in Colorado, the complaint alleged.
• 42:03
  They also surrounded and shouted at Jewish delegates and applauded and laughed at remarks about a former member, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who was murdered in an anti-Semitic attack in Colorado, the complaint alleged.
• 42:18
  These are adults doing this.
• 42:18
  These are adults doing this.
• 42:21
  Actual adults that are part of the teachers' union.
• 42:21
  Actual adults that are part of the teachers' union.
• 42:26
  And they're teaching your kid.
• 42:26
  And they're they're teaching your kid.
• 42:28
  It's probably the same group that.
• 42:28
  It's probably the same group that had the kids make posters in their classroom.
• 42:33
  I mean, probably, I don't know.
• 42:36
  The NEA unlawfully used ethnic and racial classifications, and in doing so, categorized Jews as white and set aside certain governance positions and other benefits for non-white members, according to the coalition, which also alleged that references to Jews as the primary victims of the Holocaust were removed from the NEA's updated handbook.
• 43:04
  The union also distributed to its membership a map that didn't recognize Israel and labeled all of that nation's territory as Palestine, according to the complaint.
• 43:18
  Oh man, really?
• 43:20
  I'd like to get my hands on that map.
• 43:24
  I just I mean, really, are we shocked here?
• 43:30
  Are we shocked andor surprised?
• 43:32
  No, we're not.
• 43:33
  The answer is no.
• 43:35
  We are neither shocked nor are we surprised.
• 43:39
  Uh the Brandy Center called for corrective action to ensure equal treatment and a non-discriminatory environment for all NEA members.
• 43:48
  Well, here's here's an idea.
• 43:49
  Here's a thought.
• 43:50
  How about you leave the NEA?
• 43:53
  How about you take your ball and go home?
• 43:55
  Now I understand you want corrective action, and I'm I'm all for corrective action.
• 43:59
  I'm all for non-discriminatory environments.
• 44:02
  But sometimes you just have to, I don't know, I guess you can fight them.
• 44:07
  You can try to get them to change.
• 44:09
  But the best bet here is to is to leave and watch as this union will wither on the vine, I would think.
• 44:21
  Kenneth Marcus is the uh CEO and former chief of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
• 44:28
  He's the CEO at the Brandy Center.
• 44:32
  Kenneth Marcus, he said the NEA's conduct is both completely illegal and morally unjustifiable.
• 44:41
  Okay.
• 44:42
  True.
• 44:43
  Not shocking.
• 44:44
  He continued.
• 44:46
  All educators, regardless of their ethnicity, deserve a safe workplace and support from the people whose job it is to protect them 100%.
• 44:56
  We agree 100%.
• 44:57
  But he wasn't done.
• 44:59
  This is exactly the type of discrimination against which Title VII was designed to protect.
• 45:09
  And by fighting to protect our NEA members from bigotry, we're also fighting to protect our children from an environment that allows discrimination and anti-Semitic tropes.
• 45:21
  Unions are supposed to protect their members' rights.
• 45:24
  The NEA is actually violating them.
• 45:27
  Well, I mean, the NEA isn't, they're not concerned with all their members.
• 45:31
  They only want to support their the Marxist faction of the party, ultimately.
• 45:39
  I mean, change my mind.
• 45:41
  Somebody tell me I'm wrong.
• 45:44
  The Brandy Center previously helped Jews change discriminatory practices at Microsoft and the New York Legal Aid Group Union.
• 45:55
  It also sued and reached settlements with Harvard University, which led to the Ivy League institution establishing a working definition of anti-Semitism and recognizing the centrality of Zionism to Jewish identity, according to their statement.
• 46:10
  Do you think that Harvard used this map that did not show Israel as a country, but that whole landmass as Palestine?
• 46:19
  Do you think that map is being presented in geography class?
• 46:23
  Oh, you question if we even have geography class anymore.
• 46:26
  I mean, that's fair.
• 46:27
  That's a fair question.
• 46:28
  We might not.
• 46:30
  A geography, is geography a thing anymore in high school.
• 46:33
  Do they teach geography?
• 46:36
  And if they do, are they using this NEA-sponsored map of Palestine?
• 46:44
  On July 24th, 2025, which was two weeks after its annual meeting, the NEA updated its handbook to acknowledge and promote International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
• 47:16
  Well, I mean, perhaps.
• 47:18
  I don't know.
• 47:19
  That's uh you can you can talk all day long and you can say all day long what you want to do, but it's your actions, I think.
• 47:32
  That really count, isn't it?
• 47:35
  Are you actively supporting this this group?
• 47:39
  I mean, if they're in your union, aren't you supposed to support them?
• 47:45
  You know, I suppose if the if there were Christians, there were if there were vocal Christian teachers in the NA, do you think the NEA would be supporting them?
• 47:53
  Do you think the NEA would allow vocal Christian teachers to have roles in leadership?
• 48:00
  Or how about this?
• 48:01
  Just let's say you're not a Christian.
• 48:02
  Let's just say you love America.
• 48:04
  Let's say you love capitalism.
• 48:06
  Do you believe the NA NEA would have you in a place of leadership?
• 48:11
  Let's say that, like Abraham Lincoln, you want to teach a reverence for the laws in this country.
• 48:18
  Do you think you would you would be in leadership in the NEA?
• 48:23
  Anyone in the no, I know.
• 48:25
  Okay.
• 48:26
  None of us feel like you would have a role in leadership.
• 48:30
  It's probably true, and you wouldn't.
• 48:34
  What I would like to do here as we as we wind this down.
• 48:37
  I mean, this whole, you know, congratulations, by the way, to the states who are who have these teacher unions in their crosshairs, as it were.
• 48:50
  Because these are these are states and these are legislators in these states who believe that education is important.
• 49:00
  And they believe that education should be a particular thing.
• 49:00
  And they believe that education should be a particular thing.
• 49:05
  I was reading this article the other day, and I'm going to turn to it real quick, uh, because the statement jumped out at me.
• 49:05
  I was reading this article the other day, and I'm going to turn to it real quick because the statement jumped out at me.
• 49:14
  I underlined it in red.
• 49:14
  I underlined it in read.
• 49:16
  That's a quote from Thomas Aquinas.
• 49:16
  That's a quote from Thomas Aquinas.
• 49:19
  Uh the line here says that Thomas Aquinas teaches us that all beauty is an imitation of the divine goodness of God and beauty.
• 49:20
  The line here says that Thomas Aquinas teaches us that all beauty is an imitation of the divine goodness of God.
• 49:29
  And beauty for beauty's sake is good.
• 49:32
  And no other explanation is necessary.
• 49:36
  And the purpose of education is orienting our affections and ourselves forward what is beautiful, what is what is good and what is true, and marching steadily toward those ends.
• 49:52
  That's the purpose of education, to orient ourselves and orient our affections to what is beautiful, to what is good, to what is true, and to march steadily in the direction of those things.
• 50:10
  Now we we agree with Aquinas here.
• 50:13
  I don't know that that the NEA and its leadership would agree with Aquinas that that's the purpose of education is to orient our the things that we love and and ourselves towards this this direction.
• 50:34
  Every great artist knows that the highest aspiration of art is beauty, and that the best means to this end is the imitation of beautiful things.
• 50:45
  This is what this is what artists do.
• 50:47
  They go after they go after beautiful things, they imitate beautiful things.
• 50:55
  And young people, when I we were having this conversation yesterday, or maybe the day before, I don't recall.
• 51:01
  It was a couple of days ago.
• 51:02
  We were talking about about why sex ed shouldn't be taught in the classrooms, because the the whole point of the education is to is to give kids just a little bit, little snippets, and then allow them to experiment, allow them to imitate.
• 51:20
  And this is what art is in the highest aspiration of it.
• 51:25
  Um it's beauty, and that the best means to this end is the imitation of beautiful things.
• 51:33
  Modern art, of course, is not this, it's the exact opposite.
• 51:38
  It's it's plagued with the idea that the goal of art itself is novelty, it's it's self-expression or it's social change or it's shock value.
• 51:48
  That's the goal of art, according to modern artists, what they believe, instead of of imitating beautiful things, because that truly that's what that's what art is, and that's what education is.
• 52:04
  It's the imitation of of what is what is beautiful, what is good, what is true, what is what is noble.
• 52:12
  Every artistic rendering of something is an artistic rendering of something.
• 52:19
  Even an artist as uh Picasso, famous for breaking a lot of the rules of traditional art, um, but learned how to paint in the first place by going and setting up his easel in front of the masters by uh, you know, going to the famous museums and learning how to paint by observing, observing, observing the best, the best that there was.
• 52:50
  Um that is that's education.
• 52:56
  Education is to observe what is the very best that that we have available to us.
• 53:02
  We should go after it.
• 53:04
  Uh, in this this piece here, it's a letter letter from the editor entitled The Architect of Beauty.
• 53:10
  It came out in the uh the classical teacher magazine.
• 53:17
  The author notes that uh several years ago the American Enterprise magazine conducted an interview with Alan Greenberg.
• 53:25
  He is a classical architect.
• 53:28
  And it was an interesting discussion on how he approached his craft.
• 53:33
  And one of the things Greenberg noted was the uninspired nature of so many modern buildings and modern architecture, and he contrasted it with the greatness of buildings designed and constructed in in former times.
• 53:50
  He explained his experience attending uh a university in South Africa and how he was taught the principles of architect, uh architecture.
• 53:58
  Here's what he said.
• 54:00
  We studied the history of architecture by the comparative method.
• 54:05
  When you do measured drawings to scale of great buildings, sort of five and a half years of schooling, you had a vocabulary of 100 buildings, which you knew by heart, by dimension.
• 54:18
  The great buildings of architectural history were mixed into one's architectural brain cells.
• 54:27
  And this is this is why we we want to read the great books.
• 54:33
  We want to read the great books to mix and mingle the uh the greatest writings of literary history into our literary brain cells.
• 54:47
  That, my friend, is a classical education, and that you know, it shouldn't be, we shouldn't have to call it classical education.
• 54:54
  It should be American education, and that that should be our approach, that we would want to absorb the greatest works from the greatest minds, at least that we're aware of.
• 55:10
  Uh his central assumption behind his approach or behind this architectural approach is this.
• 55:15
  You learn how to build great buildings yourself by first learning and imitating great buildings.
• 55:21
  And this is a principle we need to remember when considering how we approach education and how we approach reading.
• 55:30
  Um how to build a great human being.
• 55:34
  We do it by first learning and imitating the great human beings that have that have gone before us.
• 55:42
  This is why the classical works are so important.
• 55:44
  This is why this is why the Bible, in my opinion, should be a part of American education, because we want to be great human beings, and to be great, we have to study those that we consider to be great.
• 55:59
  And we have to imitate them.
• 56:00
  Have to imitate them.
• 56:00
  We have to emulate them.
• 56:01
  We have to emulate them.
• 56:02
  We have to model our lives after them.
• 56:02
  We have to model our lives after them.
• 56:05
  This is this is the point.
• 56:05
  This is this is the point.
• 56:07
  I mean, a lot of people say that Jefferson cut all the miracles of Christ out of the Bible, and he made his own Bible.
• 56:07
  I mean, a lot of people say that Jefferson cut all the miracles of Christ out of the Bible and he made his own Bible.
• 56:15
  Well, yeah, he he everything that was in red.
• 56:15
  Well, yeah, he he everything that was in red, Jefferson cut out of the Bible.
• 56:18
  Jefferson cut out of the Bible, but he pasted that into his own Bible.
• 56:20
  But he pasted that into his own Bible.
• 56:23
  He wanted to immerse himself in the morality and the teachings in the works of Christ.
• 56:23
  He wanted to immerse himself in the morality and the teachings in the works of Christ.
• 56:29
  That was his point.
• 56:30
  That's what he was going after.
• 56:32
  That's what we should be going after.
• 56:34
  It should embody our education.
• 56:38
  All right, my friends, that's it.
• 56:39
  I'm up against it.
• 56:40
  That's all the time we have for today.
• 56:42
  Thank you for joining me.
• 56:44
  As always, encourage your friends and family to get on the dean's list.
• 56:48
  Let's unite to renovate the age.