‘Win all the things!’ Teachers’ union president speech is all about activism, not education

At the National Education Association convention, union president Becky Pringle spent half an hour raving about politics and social justice – with hardly a word on the issues facing everyday teachers.

The speech – which is being lampooned as akin to The Office’s spoof of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini – didn’t mention low early literacy rates, social media or cell phone policies, increasing school violence, or many of the other problems facing classroom teachers.

Instead, Pringle began her address with a slew of not so thinly veiled criticisms of former President Donald Trump. 

She called his administration “tyrannical, deceitful and corrupt” and blamed him for the ongoing “vitriol toward our profession; increased marginalization of black, brown, AAPI [Asian American and Pacific Islander], and Indigenous communities; [and] rising hatred toward our LGBTQ+ siblings.”  

Though teachers’ unions have come under fire for behaving more like a political action committee than a labor union, Pringle embraced the overtly political aims of her organization.  

“Our work must be about electing people who care about our students and educators, families and communities, our nation’s future,” she raved.  

“That’s why we will re-elect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

“We must elect both a Senate and a House that will work with our president to advance student loan forgiveness; that will enhance the rights of our LGBTQ+ community; that will protect a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body!”  

Twenty minutes into the address, Pringle slipped in a brief nod to “student learning” – only to say that it required the NEA to “win resources and equitable funding” and create “safe, just, and equitable school communities.” 

She also praised the Portland teachers’ union for striking last fall, making outrageous, social justice-oriented demands.  

Even union employees criticized the Portland strike, which forced 50,000 students to stay home and led to parents filing a formal complaint with Oregon’s Employment Relations Board.  

Pringle’s tirade included more advocacy of LGBT issues, applauded the legacy of controversial figures such as Harvey Milk and César Chávez, and denounced school choice, which polls extraordinarily well with parents, as “draconian.” 

She openly acknowledged the NEA’s goal is to “transform [public education] into something it was never designed to be – a racially and socially just and equitable system that prepares every student.”  

The speech ended with repeated calls to “win all the things.”  

“Our students are depending on us to win all the things!” Pringle shouted. “NEA, we have to win all the things! All the things! All the things!” 

Pringle’s ‘all the things’ refrain was widely panned online. 

“The basics aren’t included in ‘all the things,’” union critic and school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis told Fox News host David Asman about the speech, which DeAngelis called “unhinged lunacy.”