Former New York City mayor and business Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Live” that President Joe Biden needs to “stand up” to the teachers’ unions and get children back in school.
Ruhle asked, “President Biden wants to open schools, and he’s already getting pushback. What’s your take on that?”
Bloomberg said, “Well, I think what we’re doing to poor kids is a disgrace. These poor kids are not in school. They will never recover from this. They had a bad education experience anyways. We have not had good schools for poor kids. This now is so much worse. The president has to stand up to the unions.”
Ruhle asked, “The teachers’ unions?
Bloomberg said, “Yes, teachers’ unions. Teachers say, ‘Well, I don’t want to go back because it’s dangerous.’ You have a lot of city and state and federal employees who run risks. That’s part of a job. You run risks to help America, to help your state, to help your city, to help your family. And there’s just no reason not to have the schools open. The virtual classes are a joke. It is worse than a joke. Poor people don’t have iPads. They don’t have wi-fi, they don’t have somebody at home to sit during the day and force the child to pay attention. Without that, the virtual learning just does not exist.”
He added, “It’s time for Joe Biden to stand up and say ‘the kids are the most important things. And the teachers are just going to have to suck it up and stand up and provide an education. Otherwise, these kids have no chance whatsoever. It is a disaster what’s happening to them.”
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