the problem with schools...

It is very easy today to point the finger at teachers and teachers unions for the dismal performance of students in the US and how far we have fallen in math and reading scores compared to other countries. Scapegoating is not the answer nor is it an accurate depiction of the problem.
I worked for the NYC department of education for 26 years. Are there bad teachers, bad counselors, social workers, psychologists etc? Of course-and this is true in other occupations as well. It is fair for me to say that that there were some of my colleagues who I wouldn't want working with a child of mine. There were others who were astounding in their ability to help the most difficult child and work with the most hostile of families. I knew people who sat in the "Rubber Rooms" for years-again some who should have been fired and others where the complaints were totally unfounded. I had one supervisor who could diffuse the most explosive,hostile situation with her presence. Others-make the same situation worse.
There is also a political atmosphere in each school that is determined by the building principal. One principal can make a building seem like heaven-another like being in hell. One principal maybe secure enough to listen to ideas-another can see disagreement as being insubordinate-which is a clear path to being fired. A good principal can make a new teacher love his career-another could end the new teacher's career very quickly. People complain about overpaid teachers. A masters degree in teaching does not get the same salary return as masters in other occupation. As a female dominated field, the inherent sexism is not surprising. Many teachers don't make it through their first years, others don't make tenure. Tenure is not given to teachers. It is earned. I want to see how many of the critics of teacher would last one week in a classroom..try one day.
there is the issue of kids not being prepared to be in school. Many come to school hungry. Some come to school from chaotic situations where school is their only respite. I have seen children come to DOE offices drinking soda and munching on chips. One source of frustration for me over the years, is seeing children sitting in the lobbies of education offices with Walkmen,cell phones, video games etc. I couldn't give books away.. There is an anti-intellectual atmosphere in our culture, where the bright kid is teased and called a "Geek". We tend to glorify sports and entertainment figure who couldn't conjugate the verbs or speak in complete sentences if you spotted them the vowels. The general coarsening of the culture by music and what passes as literally work today is another factor. There are people who read online who don't know the difference between: their, they're and there.
There are several solutions that will probably meet Resistance from many sources. President Obama is right-the school year should be longer. Classroom sizes should be smaller and a real investment in education, not just lip service should be made. Another source of revenue-not property taxes should be used for schools so the kid in Mississippi has the same chance as the kid in Westchester.
We also need to expand the pool of candidates who can become teacher-those who come from other backgrounds. By today's licensing rules, Bill Gates couldn't teach in most cities. The sucess of charter schools are also a myth. The clamour for vouchers just takes money away from public school where they are the most needed.

There are lots of things that have contributed to the decline in education in the United States.No one is blameless here. Demonizing teachers and the people who protect dedicated teachers is not going to make things any better. We are all at fault.

Revisionist History On Iraq

Iraq was an unprovoked war-without an enemy. There wss in intelligence that there was a threat to the US..no WMD. The Downing Street memo noted that there was no evidence of WMD and that there was no terrorist threat from Saddam Hussain. President Bush deliberately ignored information by Ambassador Joseph Wison noting that there was no uranium for a potential bomb. At a White House Press Correspondants Dinner (available on youtube) President Bush actually made a joke about looking for the WMD under the dais he was speaking from. Children of only about 10% of the population were sacrificed for a battle that chicken hawks like Bush,Chaney and Rumsfeld pushed as part of a broader global strategy to transform the middle east. The lives of the disposable (not their children were sacrificed for what was basically a war game-that was also suppose to pay for itself. Sometimes people do die in vain. This is the continuing case in Iraq even after the alledged end to our combat role. Do you really think if there was a draft and the children of Bush and Chaney were at risk to combat, that the war would have been so cavalierly entered into?)
Now we have revisionist history about the war from President Obama and Vice President Biden-who basically have been praising President Bush for his role in the war and for his concern for the soldiers and their families. (Bush did not attend the funeral of any downed soldier and images of the returned coffins were not televised to shield the public from the impact of the war.
In spite of his opposition to the war, President Obama is pulling his punches and quite frankly not telling the truth about the war in Iraq and the false claims leading to the invasion and attempts at nation building and the subsequent distraction of the terrorist threat of Ben-Ladin in Afghanistan. The President and the justice department are pulling their punches and being passive to the heartless committing of war crimes by Bush, Chaney,and Rumsfeld, leading to the killing and maiming of over 4,000 troops,those suffering from emotional problems (including the disturbing levels of suicides) and the killing of over 100,000 Iraquis.
The President and Vice President are not telling the truth and reshaping the discussion which again is another casulty of war: the truth. Bush and Chaney need to not be praised but comdemned and prosected. Lets not make another horrific joke by looking under yet another table for the truth, when its sitting there right in front of us..sort of like the white elephant in the home of any addictive family.