[Cathryn Crawford]

I wrote that article based somewhat on an education class that I am taking at my university. Remember, this is a class of mostly future teachers, and I was overwhelmed by the liberal agenda that the professor was pushing. Now, this is a woman that by her own admission spent 30 years teaching in secondary education, and she was very intent on making us understand that we must not only teach, but also be a “social services center” (direct quote) for the children. I wasn’t as surprised at her ideas – this is a liberal school – as the fact that everyone in the class except me agreed with her. And these are the future teachers. And this is Texas, not California or Massachusetts. The class went on to spend an hour discussing all the “appropriate” social programs that public schools should provide.

These aren't administrators we are discussing in this class - these are teachers.

[BeerSwillr]

I believe you. It is much easier to swim with the current than against it.

Please try and make an effort to get out into some of the successful school districts before school ends next summer to see how it's done. I can FReepmail you the contacts for the school district my children attend if you wish.

[kegler4]

Well, I agree that some school systems do too much in the way of social programs. I assume this happens partly because of the desire to push an agenda but I also think there's little question that it also happens because so many parents in some schools just abdicate that responsibility. I have no hard answers, but do you really think a privatized school system or vouchers will solve the problem of parents who don't care? I don't.

[kegler4]

And sorry for my earlier comment. Sometimes I get too defensive. Our schools aren't perfect but the parents here (me included) work hard to make them as good as we can.

[1Old Pro]

an education class that I am taking at my university

Keep up the fight. We need courageous people to stand up to the nonsense so pervasive in all aspects of education.

[mathluv]

I know that this is true. I am a product of public and private schools, and a former teacher. While at A&M working on my PhD in math ed, and at East Texas working on a mid management certificate, I had very few teachers as professors, and many who were just idiots.

At A&M, I taught the elementary math lab one semester. Almost none of these pre-service teachers had any idea about how to do math, much less teach it. Some of the profs have not changed their course outlines in 20 years.

[June Cleaver]

Incredible isn't it? And we won't be able to back up the bus.

On a personal note, my daughter is enrolled at a Texas university (your rival!) after 12 years of homeschool. She is finding much the same with a lot of her profs . . . thankfully she is a clear-headed logical thinker . . . good thing too as she will have to do a lot of sifting!