The goals of teacher unions starting with being the nationalization of the education

system and the rules therein in an attempt to make federal rules and regulations for current state

regulations on schools. Later on in the 20th Century, almost 100 years after its founding, the

NEA (National Education Association) was a major force in the establishment of the current high

school system in American public schools, which can be regarded as a major improvement to the

previous education system of the country (different states having different systems leading to

diplomas from different states being worth different values).

Another thing that the NEA established on the national level was an improved level for

the testing and qualifications for teachers. This was great for teachers and students alike because

good teachers were recognized across the country and recognized and students had access to

even better quality teachers.

One of the bigger changes of the establishment of unions was the application of collective

bargaining. This refers to the use of the union to talk to the higher ups in administration on

behalf of those that the union represents. This made it so that instead of the teacher having ot

argue to the higher ups alone and specifically, now the teachers had this higher power to

negotiate more generally as a group. This made it so that when the state administration was

approached for a raise, instead of just denying one person after a hasty progress report, the state

was blindsided by experienced lawyers and a portfolio of teachers who all wanted the same raise.

This becomes even more amplified in the power in the hand of the teachers when the NEA joins

the larger conglomerate known as CAPE (Coalition of American Public Employees). These

groups made lobbying for elections that much easier by grouping together many people are all

likely to want to vote with each other. In the late 20th Century, the NEA was used mostly to

lobby for the Democratic party. This does benefit teachers in the long run because it gives them
more bargaining power against those who might have previously swept them and their concerns

under the rug as if they were just one of the many people who needed help. As for the students,

this may make the curriculum better for them if the things that the teachers union is appealing to

the higher administration about making the lessons more tailored towards the students and not

towards the tests. When it comes down to it, it mostly depends on the wants of the majority of

the teachers to determine how a change in curriculum or policy will help or hurt the student in

the long run.

For the AFL (American Federation of Labor), the education system was supposed to be

more about what happened in the school, meaning that they were more likely to appeal or focus

on problems school by school then instituting the solution to the fix on a national scale in order

to prevent it from happening again.