I've made this rant for years but Labor Day isn't what it used to be - and for that I blame the teachers' unions. Used to be that Labor Day was both the unofficial end of the summer and the signal to return to school on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Now for years school has started in late August and for what? So teachers could have more "professional days" spread out through the school calendar? The death of the Labor Day traditions and the family bonding they brought is just another examples of how the teachers unions care more about the teachers than they do the children they teach.
Well, I can't really blame teachers for being interested in the quality and benefits of their workplace -- if you work for a company that makes tampons are you more interested in tampons or in your career path and job satisfaction? Not to mention the quality of life your job provides for your family? And unions, annoying as they are, are supposed to champion the interests of their membership over those of the organization. I blame the school administrators, the bureaucracy that actually runs the show, for being more concerned with their own power and little fiefdoms than in the quality of education received by their students. Somebody recently pointed out that Harvard now has more administrators than either professors or students. A classic example of Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
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