It makes me nuts that ya'll lump every teacher in the nation in one pile. They all aren't liberal and they all aren't bad and a great number DO have the best interests of the children they teach at heart. Find a different dead horse to beat, this one is in little bitty pieces.
Thanks, but I'll be fine.
I'm sorry that individuals with good intentions get caught up in systems that are bad, but the public school system is so bad enough bad cannot be said of it. The "good" teachers with their "good intentions" should go where they can do some good, becuase in the public school system the end result is bad. The medium is the message, and the system is the medium, and what the kids are taught, oh-so-subtley, is bad. Look at the results. A few good kids coming out of this bad system does not disprove the fact that the system is bad and is failing. Worse yet, parents who negligently put their kids in it and whine about lack of options are really lacking in imagination and proper values: if you can't sacrifice enough to keep your kids out of a killing (spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and occasionally pyhysically) place, then you should be celibate.
oops! sorry! just disproved my own tagline! blame my hot button and the two lattes I just put away! flame me if you need to, I deserve it! :-)