[jkarolyi]

I was going to mention Sholz too...I agree with nostatic that our creativity is the best thing the US has going for it. Keep the music and art classes (it sowed the seeds of art appreciation for me), but it must be balanced with the hard sciences and math.

I really think vouchers are the solution though...I read a study that found that public schools cost MORE per student than sending them to private schools! This is the same reason you see public housing blocks being torn down everywhere...its cheaper to provide section 8 vouchers for poor people to live in nicer, private apartment complexes than to have the government manage housing themselves.

Once you take into account the incredible bureacracy in our educational system, its not surprising. Isn't there a ratio of two managers, administrators, superintendents, etc. for every single teacher?

Want real change:

1. Find out how much an average private school education costs.
2. fire the entire non-teaching bureaucrats in the educational system, and any union teachers who strike in sympathy with them. Sell the school campuses to private businesses, and allow the remaining teachers to negotiate their salaries with them.
3. Use the savings to fund vouchers so that even poor kids can afford a middling cost private school.

I have a Masters in Education and taught high school for a few years, but I went into technological training and distance education at a private University because I was so disgusted at the the way unions and complacency have a hold on our public schools, as well as parents (both rich and poor) who could give a rats ass about their kids education.