Lest you wonder what else the custodians of our schoolchildren have been “teaching,” turn on your local news with an eye toward what the media call “student protest.”

Of all the leftist protesters making as much trouble as possible for the government, so-called teacher unions are among the most vocal.

Their statements are as incendiary as they are untruthful, and they have an army of heedless foot soldiers to carry their message as loudly as possible.

If you think some House Democrats’ obscene pin worn smugly during the State of the Union address is nasty, you’d best cover your ears when the students are talking. Or shouting.

Watching the young toughs make obscene gestures and threaten police, you wonder, is this where Antifa types come from? The teacher unions run a conveyor belt of future rioters, teach them a few slogans, praise them as heroes, and parade them out in front of the schools.

An Epoch Times report surveyed the country and found students being encouraged – mostly by unions and activists and occasionally by leaders of the schools themselves.

Chiefly at the unions’ behest, these truant students display virulent hatred at anti-ICE demonstrations, some even engaging in violence – over a law they demand not be enforced.

With seemingly limitless self-righteousness, the teenagers are being duped into public theatrics to support a political cause. They are political props, plain and simple.

An added benefit for the union: young adherents added to the cause. Or rather, causes. At their core, they want young socialists – we’re “all” fighting for “justice” and so forth. It’s a rhetorical elixir for inexperienced teens, easily led not just by clenched-fist teachers but also by like-minded and admired fellow students.

The high schoolers display a deeply sycophantic bent toward those leaders – union or political activist – with so much certitude that their ears are protected from the likes of anyone with a different opinion.

Children, replace those Che Guevara posters in your rooms with large likenesses of Milton Friedman, and you might have a chance at real freedom.

The progressive Sunrise Movement, active in Minnesota, has encouraged, organized, and, in some cases, trained high school kids in the art of protest. You may remember them from the viral video with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., over the so-called Green New Deal.

But the energy for the hatred – by far – across the country, comes from teacher unions.

The unions had already declared war on all things Trump or MAGA and expend enormous amounts of money – manna from unsuspecting union members whose dues go for radical causes – to ply that malevolence. Now, as they’ve done over the years, they are using children as props in the battle.

You may recall that, of the nearly 100 “new business items” at the annual National Education Association convention, almost none had anything to do with educating American children. Most were knock-offs of the hottest issues on the Democratic National Committee’s homepage. This is massive dereliction on a national scale, and it has done enormous damage to our overall educational profile.

At union instigation or with heavy union backing, we’ve turned our public schools into indoctrination centers. The main entry points are class warfare, racism, and sex. At every turn, they are normalizing errant behaviors, championing lawbreakers, and excoriating anyone who disagrees with their twisted worldview.

And worst of all, the children in whom we’ve entrusted them are failing in the key areas of math and language. Don’t forget, the unions got their charters more than a century ago as “patriotic” organizations that would “promote the cause of education.”

The NEA’s oh-so-radical leader, Becky Pringle, appeared in a “Roadmap to Political Revolution” video for the Sunrise Movement recently cheering on the protesters by saying, “On behalf of the education professionals who belong to the NEA … thank you, Sunrise, for standing on the front lines in Minneapolis and in so many cities across our nation, demanding justice in all forms.”

Note, she said this on behalf of “educational professionals” who belong to the NEA – that’s close to 2.4 million people, all paying dues to a group that is pushing political revolution.

Everybody OK with that?

(Editor’s Note: Retired newspaper editor Roger Ruvolo, is a contributor to For Kids & Country. This article links to army of heedless foot soldiers–from Feb. 10 Epoch Times: ‘They Shouldn’t Be a Political Prop’: Parents Raise Concerns Over Student Anti-ICE Walkouts by Janice Hisle, Savannah Hulsey Pointer and Darlene McCormick Sanchez.)