I just keep wondering if all the time spent on bilingual education is partly to blame. I am the child of immigrants and the parochial schools did not believe in bilingual education in my day. We all learned in English even though at home our parents would speak in their native language. I also went to school at a time when there were 60+ kids in a classroom. We all learned and some of us went on to college and did well. I also feel that the teacher's unions need to go out of existence. So much of the money given to schools goes to the top heavy beauracracy of the teachers union. There is no accountability for bad teachers once they get tenure. If I had a school age child, I would seriously consider home schooling.
We keep hearing that recent latino students, illegal and legal (often offspring of illegals) do not do well educationally speaking. Then we hear that these same kids are overwhelming our school system. Now these fools are scratching their heads about failing schools.
Schools don't fail. Kids do. Yeah, I know there are some pretty crappy schools and there is a lot wrong with education, but I get tired of dishonesty.