The 2021 NEA’s Virtual Representative Assembly took place June 30-July 3, 2021. In addition to the large conference, the National Education Association (NEA) also hosted a separate Racial and Social Justice Conference. The purpose of the latter conference was to provide a unique space for educators, students, parents and families, organizers, community members, and leaders to unite for the advancement of Justice in Education.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) conference focus was equally as slanted toward social justice. In July, the AFT national conference keynote speaker was Ibram X. Kendi, the Boston University professor who wrote the book on CRT (How to Be an Antiracist). Randi Weingarten, the president of AFT, called out those who oppose Kendi’s Critical Race Theory, accusing them of bullying teachers on race and the teaching of honest history. Ms. Weingarten pledged legal defense for any teacher disciplined for teaching Critical Race Theory, especially in the 20 states that have banned its teaching.

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The NEA is the largest union in the U.S., with over 3 million members. The AFT boasts 1.7 million members. With those two powerful entities assisting our nation’s teachers, we should have the best educational system in the world. At a bare minimum, the U.S. should rank in the top 40% on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, but that’s not the case.

Instead of focusing on academics, the NEA and the AFT emphasize social justice programs, requesting more money for schools, and COVID shutdowns. They have lost sight of one of the primary reasons for public schools: to assure our students learn the necessary skills to succeed in life.    

By definition, a labor union is an organization formed by workers in a particular trade, industry, or company for the purpose of improving pay, benefits, and working conditions. Unions are expected to negotiate labor contracts and protect the rights of their workers, and that’s what they did for years.

In 1967, educational labor unions began their transition from a worker-centered focus to using their members to become agents of social change. The federal government paid for the transition through grants intended to help train teachers during a dire teacher shortage. Two professors at the University of Michigan, Ronald G. and Mary C. Havelock, both socialists, used the grant money to conduct research and produce a paper: Change Agents Guide to Innovation in Education. The Havelocks were good friends with Saul Alinsky, who, as a consultant for the NEA, used the Havelocks’ material to train the union members to become change agents in the classroom.

For over fifty years, the NEA and the AFT have used their positions as labor unions to train their members to promote a socialist agenda to the students in our schools. Both unions held their annual conferences this summer. Both pledged their allegiance, not to academic improvement, which we desperately need, but to social justice in our schools, encouraging teachers to become change agents.

Besides CRT, both unions support teaching sexuality from kindergarten through 12th grade. They readily make available abortion information to students. They stress the need to teach sexual identity (whatever sex a student wants to identify as being). They call for more Trans educators to enter the teaching profession and, of course, share your Trans experience with your students. They openly support Black Lives Matter, the 1619  Project, and iCivics. And this list is far from complete.

We need men and women who will take on these giants. Would you pray with me that these brave souls would have the support and protection they need to win this war against these powerful unions?

Nancy Huff is an educator with a mission to equip believers to pray strategically for the Cultural Mountain of Education. She has authored Taking the Mountain of Education: A Strategic Prayer Guide to Transform America’s Schools. She leads prayer groups to pray at key educational locations across the U.S. Currently, Nancy serves as the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network (HAPN) Lead Prayer Coordinator for the Mountain of Education. For additional information go to: https://takingthemountainofeducation.com/author/nancyahuff/ (Photo Credit: Maja Hitij/Getty Images).