To the Editor:
The teacher-bashing has got to stop (“Teachers’ Unions, Federal Spending Slammed at GOP Convention,” Aug. 29, 2012).
I am an Independent/swing voter. I was deeply saddened to see the Republicans blaming teachers’ unions for the difficulties in education.
In the past 100 years, the most harm to education has probably been done by two Bush administration initiatives: the No Child Left Behind Act and Reading First, which translated the recommendations of the National Reading Panel into the so-called “science of reading.” Please see what Joanne Yatvin had to say about the panel’s recommendations in her well-written National Reading Panel minority view.
I am not a teacher, but I am the daughter of a retired teacher, and I work with educators. The nation is in trouble—and politicians are the reason, not teachers.
Rhonda Stone
Shelton, Wash.
