The Best I Can Do After Spring Break

The interest group American Federation of Teachers represents, obviously, the hard-working (and not so hard-working) teachers that we all know and love (or positively hate.) Their issues are the numerous complaints that we all hear about the current condition of many of the schools in America- the students aren’t learning anything, bad teachers are kept because they have tenure, and that are schools are becoming increasingly unsafe, even from its own students. Some of their chief beliefs are to create better methods for evaluating teachers, expanding and improving student’s curriculum, and improving schools in general to make it a better workplace for teachers and to give students a better learning environment, as well as a far more enjoyable school experience. There are far more beliefs and goals that they have in mind, and they have been fighting and striving for years to make them come true. I support many of their issues, like the ones mentioned above, as I know that our public schools are not in the best condition in every sense of the word, and I believe that our teachers need to be re-evaluated and a better curriculum system be put in place.

One interest group that I can identify with is the Accuracy in Media. Their mission is to play the role of the watchdog over the media, making sure that they do not get out of hand with their reporting and that the media reports contain no bias and that the stories are the complete and total truth, as well as exposing media outlets that lie in their reports. I think that this type of interest group is very needed, especially in a time where many of the news outlets have a political bias or twist the truth to fit their needs. Since the media wants so desperately to provide the public with grandiose stories of government corruption and scandal, there should also be a group to make sure that the media does not get out of hand.

I believe that every interest group has varying amounts of influence and power in the political system, and with most interest groups, I believe that they have enough power. I suppose the line that must be drawn as to how much power the interest groups have is when they are able to easily “influence” the government decisions in the areas that the interest groups are advocacies of.

I commented on Albert Munoz, Melissa Ray, and Time Tunkel.