Those of us who went to public schools might remember having a few good teachers. Well, that generation of teachers is now long gone. Their younger replacements are stupid and naive, fresh out of indoctrination centers college.
Few of the current generation of teachers even understand the subject matter they're supposed to teach. Their vocabulary, grammar and spelling are appalling. To cover up their incompetence, they're allowed to deploy faddish methods such as "community math" (which involves dividing up students into small groups, wherein they're supposed to "teach themselves" math without teacher help). Classic literature is no longer in the curriculum; politically correct pablum is almost all that is left.
And again, I'm talking about allegedly "good" schools in a well-off, conservative area.
Classic literature is no longer in the curriculum;
If that means no one has to read “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” anymore, I’m all for it. Toss out “Moby Dick,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” and “Oliver Twist,” too.
I’d have them read “Catch-22,” anything by John Barth, Sinclair Lewis, maybe even F Scott Fitzgerald. And for advance placement, the short stories of Franz Kafka.