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It's the same problem with journalists now trying to cover the war and the military. They should first try serving some time in the USA military, and who knows: their questions may suddenly improve.

What amazes me is that they should know by now which questions are of a classified nature and yet they waste the valuable time of D. Rumsfeld by asking them anyway.

Rumsfeld is a great guy. At least Helen Thomas isn't covering the DOD. Poor Ari, though.

So many of these problems start with the homelife. I used to volunteer 1 day a week at my kid's private school in reading enrichment and the great classics series. 99% of these kids were so well behaved it was a pure joy. 1 or 2 of them were pains in the neck, and they were very disruptive. A simple word with the teacher usually took care of it. I knew the parents from the PTO and they were real pieces of work too. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in most cases.

I lived in the city of Philadelphia at the time - and there was NO way my kid's were going to the public schools - and they were fairly decent in our neighborhood. Friends of ours who teach in Philadelphia echo this author's problem's. Late arrival of school books, no up to date materials, even paper and drawing materials and copying materials are rationed out like it was war time. And forget discipline. One teacher I know who taught (no more) second grade, was challenged by her 7 yr old student," go ahead and call my mother, bitch, we ain't got a phone." I don't think more money is going to solve this type of problem. It is interesting to note how well the Catholic schools are able to educate their students on a much less student-dollar ratio.