The anti-teachers

Today was a crecendo of activity of the teacher's union of Mexico. A massive group of them from all over the country marched from the Zocalo where they've been camped for the  past month to the president's house in Chapultapec Park.

From the office on Reforma, I watched them march down the street. The street was a solid mass, filling the street, and so long that it took an hour from the first to the last marcher to pass by. That means that the march, standing still, is already over a third if not half the distance of the route.

It's nauseating, actually. The teachers union is up in arms because the president of Mexico who was elected in December on a platform which included educational reform, is attempting to make good on his promises.

The biggest reform- teacher evaluations. They want to make teachers pass an evaluation to make sure that they are, in fact, capable of teaching. The Mexican economy is third largest and arguably one of the strongest in central and latin America, but the educational system is near the bottom.

There are a few reasons for this, but I can't help but wonder if one of those reasons is because teachers inherit or buy thier teaching positions and there are no qualifications, examinations, or credentials required.

It blows my mind why/how anyone would set this up thinking it was a good idea. What probably happened is that with educational reform in the early 1920s which modernized the system, tons and tons and tons of teachers were brought under the same system and then they unionized.

The teachers union of Mexico is the largest, most powerful union, not only in Mexico, but in all of Latin America. They pick politicians, and they have done nothing but stunt the educational progress of Mexico since the word go.

Looking with contempt at the marchers, I had to ask my coworker, "how can these people, teachers, conscietiously march? Do they not realize that this is basically a crime against the schoolchildren of Mexico? Why aren't they being pelted with rotten tomatoes?"

My coworker pointed out that many of the marchers may not have been able to have any say in the matter. To work in the public school system, you are required to join the union, pay union dues, and the union leadership tells you if you want to keep your job, you have to get on this bus to the capital and join the protests.

They effectively shut down the city today. Major roads closed to allow the marchers to cross, the metro and metrobus stopped running. Schools across the city were closed, and not just the public ones.

In general, I find unions to be a balancing force to the power of the owers of capital and the game they have created. However, the teachers union is a parasite, a fat, bloated tick on the back of Mexico, retarding its children and stunting its growth. To the union of Mexican teachers, VETE!!!