[Clara Lou]

All my teacher friends whine that class time is being absorbed in studying for this test and not for other curricula......perhaps condom practice and bashing America?
Sam, have you spent any significant amount of time in a Texas classroom in the last few years? Do you have first-hand knowledge of the curriculum that one of your "whiner" teacher-"friends" is given to teach?
The English/reading, science and social studies curricula are dictated by the TAKS test. I teach high school Spanish at the middle school level. English teachers are limited in what they can teach. I don't know about you, but when I was in elementary and junior high, my teachers taught us about all parts of speech. We were taught about direct objects, indirect objects, infinitives, verb tenses. We read a wealth of literature. Teachers now can only teach a fraction of that. I find myself, a Spanish teacher, teaching these things to students who have never heard of infinitives or direct or indirect objects, who don't understand what "agreement" is between subjects and verbs and nouns and adjectives. [I'm addressing just one area here-- the list could go on and on and in various subject areas.]
Those "whining" teacher-friends of yours also realize that all of the swell scores on the TAKS test do not result in higher scores on the SAT, for instance. You would think that improved TAKS scores would also mean improved SAT scores, wouldn't you? The fact that they don't tells you that teachers can't teach all that they need to-- which includes nothing about condoms. Why not listen to those "whiners" a little more closely? Maybe with a little respect? [Forgive me-- teachers get no respect around here-- I know that.]

[sam_paine]

Clara, revisit your response, and if it does not sound like "whining" to you in retrospect, then I suppose we have no chance of bridging this gap.

With all due respect, I have one friend in Houston that's a special ed teacher (had her arm broken, spit on, had to stop kids from masturbating on other students, etc.) I have three friends who are teachers (elem, jh) in the Austin area, one of which started as a sub for three years. Another friend moved up from 8th grade to principal. Finally, I'm dating a girl from California now that quit teaching after 10 years because she could no longer fight the diminishing returns of her self investment.

Yes, I believe that by LISTENING to my friends, I have developed a very interesting perspective on education and how it relates to my own (distant) 'education.'

Furthermore, the condom reference comes from my niece and nephew who are always fascinated to learn from their uncle that Bush is NOT personally killing babies in Iraq, that America did not invent slavery, that Columbus and Washington and Jefferson are not historical villians. I listen to the kids, and they teach me what they learn about in school, including condoms and anal sex.

Clara, I am a successful American in spite of my public education experience. While I sense whining in your missive, you should also sense bitterness in my response. I graduated from college with honors with the help of precious few of my k-12 teachers, and with a whole helluva lotta friction from teachers that cared about POWER first, and LEARNING last.

I'll be the first to admit that the opportunity of an educator to influence lives (positive or negative) is not reflected in the compensation, and a public school teacher (and the even less well compensated private teacher) is almost compelled to give more than they take.

But as my girlfriend did, if a person is unable or is no longer willing to make that sacrifice, then GET OUT.

And review your last paragraph. That's a classic strawman argument. I didn't advance any such argument, you constructed it to advance your own argument.