JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

I'm always amused at people who make these broad statements about how
our educational system is in a shambles (see gfretwell's comments,
for instance. I wonder how many of these proclamations come from
people who've never bothered to raise hell in order to get things
improved overnight in their own school systems. I have. It's easy.
Our school system is just fine.

Some observations:
1. "Education" is the only discipline in which one can earn a terminal
degree without knowledge of a foreign language.
2. The school district in which I live is the largest in a large state.
Teachers make up 40% of the employees. Sure, you've got to have bus drivers
and people to print paychecks, but is it reasonable to have less than half
of your staff doing what the organization is supposed to be doing?
3. I taught high school physics and chemistry. I had more math courses under
my belt than the 11 math teachers in the school. Combined.
4. Once upon a time I did a little research. The following were NOT legally
qualified to teach in the public schools of my state:

A. All living Nobel Laureates.
B. All living winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
C. All winners of the Fields Medal
D. All winners of the Edgar, Hugo, Caldecott or similar literary prize.
E. All members of the federal appellate judiciary.
F. All living ex-presidents.
G. All of the members of the U.S. Senate that I could check.

No, the education system in the U.S. is broken - the inmates are in charge
of the asylum.