Letters To The Editor

To the Editor:

I read with great interest the Commentary on teachers' unions by former U.S. Sen. Robert W. Kasten ( "An Oligopoly With a Unique Agenda," Feb. 19, 1997). The biased, superconservative tone of the essay bothered me greatly.

To compare professional teacher associations in the United States with those in Europe or other areas of the globe is to compare apples and oranges. American teachers are not employees of their national government, as are many European teachers, but of local governmental entities. American schools share in the concept of separation of church and state, whereas many other nations have state-recognized religions. (Herein lie the differences in...