Opinion of teachers' unions

[Frodo]

Among all the unions, they are my least favorite.  While I would not go so far as to favor stripping them of their right to organize (though I have fantasized about it in my angrier moments), they desperately need to change their structure in a way that doesn't put so much emphasis on seniority which all too often favors older, frequently incompetent teachers at the expense of younger, more talented ones who are usually the last to be hired and the first to be fired in a budget crunch.  While it isn't so much of a problem in other unions, when it concerns educating children it is downright despicable.  And I lay much of the blame for the poor quality of public schools at the teachers unions' doorstep.  Too many teachers are not much better educated than their students -and yet they're still there, teaching.