The parents don't pay dues to teachers' unions. They pay taxes and sometimes tuition to pay for the teachers' salaries, and the duly elected school board (who answers to the parents and the rest of the community) contracts with the teachers. The teachers pay some of their salaries as dues. After the teachers are paid, what they do with the money is their business. Just like anyone else.

The teachers have their agents and the parents have theirs. There is no reason an organization designed to serve teachers in their professional capacities should be answerable to the parents. The teachers themselves are answerable to the parents, through their school board. Isn't that enough?

It's not as if unions certify teachers. That is a function of the states.

You're suggesting that teachers basically be hung out for anybody to take a potshot at without any independent support at all. Some teachers are not good at their jobs, and some teachers exhibit bad judgment sometimes. Some parents are real pips too. Without due process and independent review, in which unions play a role, teachers who are doing their jobs are at their mercy, such as it is.

You still don't know any more than what you suppose. All the probablys in the world won't change that.

Doctrine is a presentation of dogma. They are essentially synonyms.

How wonderful for you, that you can judge organizations without knowing anything about them. The next time people kick over funding the space program because of Columbia, I hope you remember this conversation as you reflect on their ignorance. They will be working on probablys too.

Regards--
Mary Anne