Damn you all with a smile and heartfelt cheer to all of you who sent me the link. I was trying by bets not to write about it because it is getting hard not asking for an oil-soaked 2×4 perm to the head some people for sheer stupidity.

The recent trip to Venezuela by a group calling itself a Chicago Teachers Union delegation has upset some union members and expats who question the point of the tour and take issue with the group’s praise of the country’s disputed government.
The four travelers, who crowdfunded the July trip under the banner of the CTU, met with Venezuelan government officials and educators, visited a commune and were featured in local media.
They wrote online about wanting to connect with Venezuelan teachers, students and unionists, criticized U.S. economic sanctions against the South American nation and wrote admiringly of its socialism, its communes and high literacy rates.

CTU also retweeted another post by teacher Sarah Chambers, one of the travelers and a member of the CTU executive board, which read: “While staying in #Venezuela, we didn’t see a single homeless person. USA is the richest country in the world; yet, there are homeless people everywhere. Over 17k CPS students are homeless… This is why @CTULocal1 is fighting for fair housing #CTUAgainstVezIntervention.”

Chicago Teachers Union group’s trip to Venezuela, praise of socialist leader slammed as ‘propaganda tour’

If you go to Venezuela, indeed you will find locales that look like a travel agency brochure and stores plentiful of delicacies for the most distinguished palates and all very plentiful. And I bet they were even take to a school that would shame most schools around the world for its cleanliness and modern teaching implements.  And I know that is what te good Socialists Teachers of Chicago saw. But they also chose to ride the Dog and Pony show and not step away from their minders to see how the rest of the country lives. ,

In the latest post, one member of the group wrote that she’d wanted to observe a method for teaching reading that combines numeracy and literacy skills. She was also curious about if and how educators incorporated the country’s social movements into their curriculum, she wrote.
They visited a commune and talked to educators involved with Misión Robinson, a social welfare program to improve literacy started under former President Hugo Chavez.

Here is the thing: Plan Robinson claimed that something 98.9% of Venezuelans were able to read and write thanks to the program. Unfortunately for them, Plan Robinson did not do squat since literacy levels in Venezuela were already running that high prior to Chavez taking over and thanks to several programs that had close to 30 years running already.

What has been the impact of Socialism in education? Here is a short answer:

(Original in Spanish)
‎School dropout rate rebounds in 2018 to 60%. More than half of students are dropping out at all levels. But in the teachers guild the matter is worse, about 70% of the teachers of the universities are resigning to emigrate.‎

‎In Venezuela students defect, the priority is to eat‎

Meals are not provided to school kids in Venezuela unless they are in a very special Dog and Pony Show school. Parents choose to keep the kids at home where they burn less calories, rather that have them trek to the local house of learning and hope they have a teacher that day.  Because at the end of the day, who gives a shit who liberated the Gran Colombia if you cannot pay attention due to hunger pains.

Long live the glorious revolution!