Well, I am a teacher and I agree that homeschooling is preferable to tossing your kids into the meat grinder that is public education. But I have to say on behalf of the teachers I've met so far that they are generally bright, ambitious, idealistic, well-intentioned, etc.... and most of them don't last more than three years. Public school is Hell's Zoo, and it takes years just to get the hang of managing 35 adolescents, teaching from the required books that often change every few years (just as you're getting good at something, they switch it on you). Then there's the crushing nightmare of the administrative meddling that constantly drags you away from your planning and grading to "meet" in various "teams" to come up with new ways to pump up the scores. It's weird how many of the teachers in my school are having heart attacks and strokes in their late 40s, early 50s. The stress is mind-boggling.
Well, the point of my little rant is that even if the teachers are as great as they could be, it's still a rotten situation to put kids into.
True. I have three immediate family members either teaching or in administration. It seems the bureaucracy is overwhelming. From what I can tell, NCLB has created a system of test taking and test teaching. The test scores are all that matters - gotta keep the money coming. Can't have charter schools - they take away enrollment and funding from the public school.
Public Schools epitomize the worst of liberal government policy.