[ladylib]

"I wonder where public school teachers lost their joy?"

There is no joy left in the public schools now because of "No Child Left Behind." And I don't think it can be blamed totally on Bush. Public schools have been effing up for years now. Today, there is accountability under No Child Left Behind and the public schools have to prove themselves to the federal government and to taxpayers (parents).

Private schools only have to please parents, which is the way it should be, since parents dole out their own money for tuition (as well as paying taxes for the public schools). Private school teachers probably exhibit joy because they don't have to bother with the same constraints government teachers have to today -- parents and administrators give them more leeway. Private school teachers and administrators know that their livelihood depends on parental approval and consider working with the children of those tuition-paying parents a privilege. This isn't to say that private school administators and teachers have to be willing to put up with a lot of nonsense from parents and students. Private school teachers and administrators and paying parents want the same things for the kids.

[honeygrl]

" Private school teachers probably exhibit joy because they don't have to bother with the same constraints government teachers have to today "

I went to a private christian school for 2 years in high school.. I never felt any of that joy coming my way. My Spanish teacher once went over a friend's homework and took off 1 point for every "i" he didn't dot. Since he wrote in small cap letters (like a lot of males do) he failed the assignment over it. She also wouldn't accept any work turned in written in pencil. It had to be black ink or you got a zero.