[Superman]

Hoo, boy. Don't get me started. Three of my four sisters are school teachers, and I can tell you that they are not in that profession because of the obscene salaries, or the community respect.

My cut on this, as the token Flaming Liberal in these discussions, is that Z-man is correct in his Point #1. We've got more than just a dysfunctional education system. Track nearly any illness related to our children backwards (teen pregnancy, drugs, poor work ethic, etc.) and you'll eventually ask "Why aren't these kids learning values?" The answer is darned simple:

Kids watch grownups like a hawk. That's how they learn. It's not "quality time," itis just TIME that counts. "Quality time" is a term to make parents feel less guilty. Fact is, a modern familial success story goes like this: Mom and Dad get up at five thirty, shower, shave, dress and dash to work. Kids go to school. Three thirty the kids return to an empty home. Hour or two later, the first parent arrives on the scene and begins the mad dash to prepare dinner, other daily chores, direct showers, homework, reading, a little TV and then it's bedtime. Total "family time" is minimal. Total "TV time" for the kids is a larger number. And here's the frightening part: The above is a "success" story. They get worse. Single-parent families are not this lucky. So, kids are learning values more from TV than from actual adults. Watch TV if you want more information about the kinds of values they're getting.

TV is irresponsible, but it's a major part of our glorious, hallowed economic system, which of course outstrips all other values we should be pursuing. Propose any limitations on commercial tactics, even in the name of families and values, and you'll get pissed on in our society. Capitalism is KING/EMPEROR. An economic system that encourages or requires double-income families is twisted. And we wonder why our nation seems to be spiraling downward.....

And the really really twisted thing about all this is that the conservatives, the mindless promoters of this saturated level of capitalism, have successfully tortured the story so it looks like they have the market cornered on "family values." Warner Brothers cartoons are more reality-based and more serious than our nation's political system.