The Colorado Education Association (CEA) recently passed a resolution condemning capitalism for its exploitation of “children, public schools, land, labor, and resources.”
First reported in The Lion, the original resolution from the 39,000-member organization was even more radical, calling for the abolition of the free-market system in this country. It read:
“The CEA believes that capitalism requires exploitation of children, public schools, land, labor, and/or resources and, therefore, the only way to fully address systemic racism (the school to prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new, equitable economic system.”
A source sent The Lion the original version in a screenshot, showing it was to be submitted to the union by Bryan Lindstrom, a college history teacher. The publication subsequently sent the resolution to the CEA for comment. The union later returned the “revised” document to The Lionwithout the phrase “replace it with a new, equitable economic system”
While the CEA concerns itself with abandoning free market principles, Colorado students are struggling with learning loss in the classroom, as are many students nationwide coming out of the pandemic.
According to the recently-published “Nation’s Report Card”, only 19% of Colorado 4th graders who are low-income are proficient in reading, and just 50% of their more affluent peers are proficient.
8th graders in the state fared no better. Less than 28% were doing grade-level work in math, and just over 1-in-three were proficient in reading. Again, the 2022 results were below those from 2019.
We reached out to the Kansas NEA chapter of the union for comment on the Colorado resolution, but officials did not respond.
