The war on teachers and the impact on U.S. public opinion

Good article on education at the Daily Kos. The key seems to be that they like the public schools when they have direct contact with them. They believe the propaganda when they don't

I love the fact they love their teachers but hate their union. About a year and a half ago they gave us an hour and a half without compensation, wiped out all our sick time, wiped out our seniority. When I tell the "anti-union" crowd about this I love when they tell me they can understand how unions were important in my case and it's every other union they hate. Many of these folks often believe their was a need for unions during the Gilded Age when their own descendants were treated like crap but they don't see a need for a union today. Then when you ask them if they think that people are really so much better now than they use to be, they don't believe that either. They mistrust people today. Therefore why don't they need unions.

One of my favorite parts:
LOVE THE TEACHER, HATE THE UNION?
A dichotomy that has long proved fascinating is the chasm people are eager to forge between "teachers" and "teachers unions." During a contract dispute early in my teaching career, I had a parent assure me that she adored her child's teachers, but she simply could not stand "the teachers union." The idea that a teachers union is made up solely of...y'know...teachers was a fact that was lost on her and myriad others.
The Full Story here:
The war on teachers and the impact on U.S. public opinion