It wasn’t until my senior year at a Philadelphia-suburb public high school that I saw teachers wearing red polo shirts every Friday.  I didn’t know what the little apple symbol branded with acronym “NEA” above the left breast stood for, but I knew it might mean a get out of school free pass. 

What more could a kid ask for? 

Apparently not much - the struggle between teachers and the administration dictated my future, but I had no say.  As a student, I was left totally at the mercy of the teachers’ union, a group I didn’t vote in but claimed to be for my own good.

Those red shirts expressed exactly the opposite.  An organization that forces teachers who aren’t even union members to pay agency fees without representation and has spent nearly one billion on partisan politics since 1990 didn’t care if I passed geometry or not. 

I get it, what does it really matter that kids struggle in school when you’re a union that made more than $360 million off workers in 2015 alone?  Protecting bad teachers through tenure and leading the fight against educational freedom for non-traditional students is clearly the priority.

But to pluck teachers out of the classroom and stick them on a picket line?  Even with my public school education, I knew that wasn’t how learning happened. 

As a recent college grad, I find myself surrounded by the NEA once again.  In what might be the most depressing election ever, “Educators for Hillary” signs have been popping up and it seems to be red shirt mania all over again. 

After endorsing her in October 2015, the NEA has created "Educators for Hillary," a pledge to the former Secretary of State’s presidential campaign, despite their irreconcilable differences.  According to the Washington Post, when Clinton mentioned using charter schools at an NEA event, she was confronted with boos from the audience.

The policies page on “Educators for Hillary” specifically cites opposing school vouchers.  Looks like Hillary didn’t get the memo.    

Every Friday, the red shirts acted as a reminder that I was merely a pawn in the union's game.  Now, with the emergence of “Educators for Hillary,” I know who wins that game.

And it’s not the students.