John LaCourt - Letter to Editor

I was appalled to read that the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and possible presidential candidate recently stated that the most dangerous person in the world is Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers Union. He stated, “who’s the most likely to take this republic down?” “It would be the teachers’ unions, and the filth that they’re teaching our kids, and the fact that they don’t  know math, and reading or writing.” So according to Pompeo, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un, two of which have their hands on nuclear weapons and the third who will soon have nuclear weapons, are less dangerous than the head of a teacher’s union.
Public education is the key to democracy. Besides teaching our students the skills to be successful in life, it also encourages students to question our government so it reflects the will of the people. It teaches them to be informed citizens, so when they go to the polls, they vote intelligently.
Pompeo is a man who may aspire to become president, and he denigrates public education and public-school teachers. His comments are a slap in the face to the thousands of teachers who have dedicated their lives to education. Shame on him.
If Pompeo runs for the presidency, I can’t wait to listen to a debate between him and Donald Trump just to observe which one of them lies the most.
If there was a trophy given for the most insane statements by politicians in 2022, his comments about teachers and teachers’ unions would have to be in the top ten.