That's a lotta Jibba jabba. Oh well, time for me to skimble-skamble with some kibbles 'n bits... P.S. My viewpoint on schools? I'm all in favor of 'em!

I think we are all right!! We have a problem, and all of these things might or might not help...it's good that we all have ideas. So who's first...where do we start? A letter to our congressman? DID THAT!! It sure is fun to sit around and talk about it though, huh?

Perhaps the problem the US as whole has is larger than this article seems to articulate. As a student of the Texas Public School system I can tell you first hand that we suck. Enormously. Teachers are not only undrpaid, but undereducated. I had the opportunity to take some education courses for the purpose of teaching in Houston, TX. It seemed to me at the time that all the qualifications one needed in order to teach in Texas was to be an upright primate. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. So very very wrong. A teacher in Texas must also be a parent. A teacher must educated the student in what it means to be a productive citizen. A teacher is expected to not just educate a child, but to parent him/her as well. Teachers have become day care providers. They supervise their play and how they eat. (I've played the sub and seen what teachers do during their lunch) Teachers mediate, mitigate, and educate. They may only work 9 mos. a year, but they put in more hours than any 40 hr/wk worker anywhere. While there are plenty of problem areas that need to be dealt with in our public education system, I believe the first and foremost is a culture issue. Parents must be held responsible for thier children! I have two girls... I have taken it upon myself to ensure that they have all the knowledge they need to not only succeed, but to excel in the world! I use the public education system as a tool, something I pay for anyway, to teach them how to interact with others socially, how to deal with impossible managers, deadlines and inconsistencies. I cannot rely on the teachers to give my daughters the attention they need to excel. Parents that do no realize this and think that public schools and teachers are responsible for giving their children the knowledge and know-how to succeed and excel are stupid fools. These parents use the public education system as a place to keep their kids while they waste thier time in another dead end job. Yes, I've said something controvesial. Scream, shout, shake uncontrollably (just not in front of Rush) there are exceptions to every generalization. We, as a nation, both accuse our government of being too controlling and then,in the same breath, accuse it of not doing enough. What kind of mixed message are we sending to our children? Ancient China, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Rome, England, France, Ottoman... only a few examples of world powers in history that generated civilizations with so much potential, and every single one of them has fallen into obscurity. Why? Well, several reasons rise up to be heard... but first and foremost among them should be how they raised their children. If Ancient Greece truly believed in themselves, then they all would have recieved the education and parenting that Alexander the Great had. We'd all be using a different alphabet and spelling logos instead of words. We, in Houston, still have an enormous number of folks displaced from New Orleans due to the Hurricane Katrina evacuation. There are those that came, enjoyed our hospitality, and either went home or found new homes. And then there are those that have outstayed thier welcome sucking up charities and hand-outs hoping to get a free ride. These are the people that were enjoying a free-ride in Louisiana. And now that Houston has politely asked that they start either earning a living or go home, they announce how they are being discriminated against. The United States Public Education System (caps intential) has been around for about 60 years. Some public colleges for over 100. Civilization has been around for over 10,000 years. And no one has asked WTF? We, as a democratic nation, must inform our political candidates as to our wishes to provide better facilities for education. We, as a people, must change our culture to embrace education. Then, and only then, will a higher priority be given to education than to, well... anything else.