Dear Mr. Pompeo,

You a cum laude graduate of West Point and a former Secretary of State of the U.S. Government. When you were asked to diagnose why the public schools are failing, you said,

“If you ask, “Who’s the most likely to take this republic down?” It would be the teacher’s unions, and the filth that they’re teaching our kids, and the fact that they don’t know math and reading or writing.”

If you want to attack teachers’ unions, you should offer a constructive solution to prove you know what you are talking about.

Otherwise you should stop scapegoating public education like an illiterate boor.

You should demonstrate the level of critical thinking you are demanding of fourth graders (if you are using the NAEP for evidence of failure).

Among the topics you might have addressed are

What do you consider “filth”?  What kinds of literature for young adults would not be classified as “filth”?

What exactly are the problems with how  math and reading and writing are taught? How are teachers’ unions responsible for this methodology?

What is your basis for diagnosing these problems?

What grade levels are these trends most evident?

What do you consider a fact-based curriculum in U.S. History?

How do teachers instruct in “critical thinking,” rather than “indoctrination,” which would be the method in totalitarian countries?

How important is class size in the teaching of critical thinking?

How important is salary and benefits in recruiting competent teachers of critical thinking?

If you are going to use teachers’ unions as a scapegoat for performance in public education, you should demonstrate more analysis and evidence to prove you are capable of the reasoning you are demanding of fourth graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.  To date, you are a sad example for students to follow in their critical thinking in math, reading and writing.

Mr. Pompeo, Let’s have a dialogue worthy of the critical reasoning you expect of our students.

Respectfully,

William D. Tucker, Ph.D.

1895 Schoettler Valley Drive

Chesterfield  MO 63017