If you can’t convince adults to join unions, you gotta brainwash kids into joining labor organizations later on in life. That seems to be the thought in Wisconsin, where union officials are hoping to use mandates to make schools indoctrinate kids about the labor movement. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel carried thoughts from the Center for Union Facts this morning, where we offer a little careful-what-you-wish-for tiding:

The state Legislature recently held public hearings on Senate Bill 108, proposing to make “labor history” a required subject in the state’s public schools, which are already struggling under the burden of countless mandates imposed by federal and state governments.

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO wants this bill passed for at least two reasons: 1) positive advertising to impressionable schoolkids and 2) a return on its investment in the 2006 election. Even if Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signs the bill as a thank-you to the labor interests that helped keep him in office last year, however, the new mandate won’t be all bread and roses for the state’s labor unions.

After all, Big Labor’s history isn’t always pretty.

And, of course, there are practical concerns to consider:

The misdeeds of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa could take up an entire history lesson – and a geography class could spend a whole year on the search for his body.