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I'm sorry to bunch you all together but I do believe you a propping up a terrible public school system and the union that feeds on our children.

May I correct your typo to show that I'm not totally ignorant? ;-)

The public school system may be terrible, but for most families, it's the only one available. Fortunately or unfortunately, the quality of a particular school is largely a function of the condition of the community in which the school exists.

You may feel I'm "propping up" the system, I feel I'm working to change it from the inside. As long as most educators are liberals, the system will never change, or will only change cosmetically.

I don't belong to the union, because I refuse to support them. Please understand that not belonging to the union carries risks, because union membership is the only method of purchasing professional liability insurance in my state, and teachers can be sued personally as well as professionally.

The bottom line, however, is that it's not just the teachers, and it's not just the system: it's also the families, the communities, and the culture. Schools won't change until and unless all of these change.

I never said you were ignorant Amelia. And I understand your dedication. But the way things currently are in the classroom, it won't help those children whose parents feel there is no alternative, who don't understand or are indifferent to the poor quality of public education. The kinder path would be to walk away from a system that is so rotted. The sooner good teachers and support staff do, the sooner it will change or die.

This huge money pit is sucking up state budgets, receiving federal funds for more and more programs and returning damaged goods. It's a house of cards, little different from Enron and it's slowly being found out for the fraud that it is. To pretend it's a functioning system, is being part of the problem. How is that good for anyone, especially students?

The Left is very adept at putting everyone on the defensive at the expense of children and our country. The taxpayers, our children and good educators shouldn't be sitting targets for unions nor should they pretend there is nothing to do but remain. That makes them fodder for political and union survival and I'd like to believe we can do better than that.