CNN Accidentally Advocates For Privatized Education; Teachers Unions Can't Be Happy About That

CNN is a left-wing media outlet. Left-wingers and Democrats hate the idea of school choice or private education. Why? Because they rely on donations and support from teachers unions.

And the teachers unions REALLY hate school choice. Why? Because they don't want public schools to have to compete against private schools.

Why? Because they would lose. And they know it.

That brings us to an incredibly ironic report from CNN on Monday morning. The graphic on the screen leading into the story is "NYC to overhaul school reading curriculum."

OK, so they're going to give credit to the Democratic mayor -- Eric Adams -- and the public schools for taking a new tactic on reading for schoolchildren.

Students protest layoffs of members of the teachers unions at Centinela Valley Union High School District. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

But before we get to this brilliant new idea, CNN reports why they have to overhaul reading programs in the first place.

"More than half of students in third through eighth grade cannot read at proficient levels," host Poppy Harlow says.

She then brings in "National Correspondant Athena Jones who covers education" for CNN. Apparently, they have an education correspondant who never advocates for school choice.

Instead, Jones lauds New York City for "changing the way children are taught to read."

So what is this genius new strategy for teaching children to read? Well, the public schools are hiring a private company -- Braintrust Tutors -- to come in and teach the kids.

Hmm. Bringing in educators from a private company who are incentivized to teach the children or they don't get paid? That sounds quite a bit like ... private education, doesn't it?

CNN's history indicates disdain for school choice, private education

But CNN hates privatized education. Just look at the opening paragraph to a recent "news story" about Republican bills advocating for school choice.

"Riding the so-called 'parental rights' movement, more Republican-led states are changing the way they fund K-12 education, making it easier for families to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private schools."

The "so-called 'parental rights' movement" is certainly one way to describe their position. Notice the writer slips in the "use taxpayer dollars" piece. That's designed to anger people without providing context.

Teachers unions continually demand more money despite producing poor results in the field of public education. (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

And, as I've pointed out in several stories over the past few days, media outlets like to use quotes from people they agree with and avoid talking to the other side. This is very common.

But because this article is based on what Republican politicians are saying, CNN made sure they heard from the other side, too.

"Opponents of school-choice policies, including many teachers unions, argue that they take money away from public schools, which usually receive a certain amount of money from the state per student," the article reads.

Funny how we see "balanced reporting" when the focus of the article is on people with whom they disagree.

So CNN has established where it stands on the issue. Yet, they're crediting New York schools for, essentially, farming out their education to a private company. Because, you know, that works a lot better.

The "science of reading" ... Seriously?

Now, this company -- Braintrust -- goes into a whole thing about the "science of reading." Then, the CNN reporter -- Jones -- talks about New York City schools incorporating this new curriculum that accounts for the "science of reading."

This, of course, is insane. People have figured out how to read and write for thousands of years. This company did not invent reading. Nor did they perfect some process to do it.

CNN correspondant Athena Jones. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for CNN)

CNN focuses on this "science of reading" as to why students are suddenly learning much quicker. This is like when they tried to push "new math" or "common core." The problem isn't that the process for learning to read or do math is broken.

It's that the system in place -- i.e. public schooling -- is broken.

CNN is engaging in a logical fallacy known as "false cause and effect." The reason the students are learning to read better is because incentivized tutors -- who must be successful or they either won't get paid or won't secure another gig -- are spending one-on-one (or small group time) with the children.

We all know this works better than shoving as many kids into one classroom as possible. Public schools do that so that the school can receive the maximum funding, which is based on an amount of tax dollars per student.

Human beings -- all creatures really -- need incentives to perform

Public school teachers have no incentive to actually teach the kids to read. Sure, there are some good teachers out there who genuinely care. But those aren't as prevalent as media wants you to believe.

And since teachers unions back public school teachers, the schools can't fire them for poor performance. Again, no incentive to actually teach the children. They are incentivized to show up from 8-3, take all holidays off of work and then not work for three months in the summer.

Yes, some go above-and-beyond this requirement. Most do not. Why? Because that's how humans work. We are designed to do as little work as possible to achieve the best possible outcome.

Really, that's how all creatures are designed. So what can we do to combat that? Create competition.

Which, as CNN helpfully points out, works! These private tutors are incentivized to perform. The company -- Braintrust -- is incentivized to hire good people who know how to work. It's the exact opposite of public education.

Which, as CNN helpfully points out, doesn't work! Half of New York City kids can't read at the proper grade level. They're all in public schools. Hmm.

Teachers unions demand more and more money, but as CNN report shows private education would be far more beneficial to students than more money for public education. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Don't worry, though, CNN isn't going to blame the schools or the politicians for that.

"This comes amid more concerning news about learning loss due to the pandemic," Jones says after the report finishes airing.

"U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has called this learning loss 'the devastating impact of the pandemic' and the administration says it's going to take 'years of effort and investment' to fix this and catch all these kids up," Jones concludes.

CNN conclusion on failing public schools is way off the mark

Two important points on Jones' conclusion after reporting this story.

First, the "pandemic" didn't cause "learning loss." Terrible policies by mostly Democratic leaders caused this "learning loss."

I remember very clearly that the symptoms of COVID-19 included loss of taste and smell. I don't remember them ever reporting "loss of ability to learn how to read or write."

This is an important use of language, though, where a "reporter" -- again using "false cause and effect" -- blames a virus instead of the true culprit. That being terrible policy -- like closing down schools for over a year.

Thanks to teachers unions demanding, and media outlets like CNN helping, schools stayed closed for over a year, forcing kids into "remote education" which, of course, set back learning for students.

And why did they do that? Because the teacher's unions demanded it. They didn't want to go back to work. Why? Because if you offer most humans these two options: 1. go back to work and get paid or 2. don't go back to work but still get paid ... guess which one they're going to choose?

Personally, I'm picking #2 every time. And, guess who suffered the most from the school closures? Black and brown children. But wait, aren't those the kids that the teachers and Democratic politicians care the most about?

To wit, CNN included this nugget in their report: "The problem is worse for children of color with 63% of Latino students and 64% of black students not proficient ."

That note about saying the pandemic caused learning loss instead of pandemic policies causing learning loss is just one important note about her conclusion, though.

Biden administration quote inclusion shows CNN still trying to stay in good graces of teachers unions

The second is that part about including the Biden administration quote. That quote really isn't relevant to this discussion. But they use it anyway. Why?

"Years of effort and investment."

Effort equals "elect more Democratic politicians to continue to pushing kids down this horrible path."

Investment equals "keep throwing more and more money at failing public schools despite a complete lack of evidence that additional funding improves results." It doesn't.

How do we know that? No state spends more money per student on public education than New York ($24,881 per pupil). Yet this entire report comes because most New York kids can't read properly.

Public education is failing. CNN discovered the secret: private education works better.

They should be careful, though, because their friends over at the teachers unions don't want that word getting around.

You can watch the entire report here, if you're so inclined: