Playing Games With L.A.’s Students?

Harry Bernstein is advocating anarchy to blackmail the government into raising taxes to give more money to the schools.

Taxes have already been raised to give more money to the schools, under the specious premise that raising teachers’ salaries would improve the quality of education. Teachers’ salaries were raised and the quality of education continued to go down.

The problem is the Teacher’s Union that Bernstein supports. Raising the salaries didn’t suddenly make the teachers better. None of the “bad” teachers were replaced by good teachers. The union won’t allow that.

It opposes any plan that would allow teachers’ salaries to rise on merit. And yet the teachers still maintain that they are “professionals.”

Public employee unions should not be allowed, like it used to be. If wages and benefits are too high, or the work is substandard, the government isn’t competitive. It must learn to be competitive or be forced out of business.

Witness the auto industry. It is amazing that the electorate can’t see that competition, like the voucher system, is needed to improve our public education.

Throwing more money at it ain’t going to do it, nor is the anarchy proposed by Bernstein going to help, except to expose the hypocrisy of the greedy unions who always maintain they are looking out for the best interests of the children.

CHARLES W. BENNETT

San Diego