American public schools have a terrible reputation. Are we proud of our public school systems? Why don't American students score as high as Canada, or Ireland in literacy? We have schools all over the place, so why are Americans falling short in education?

It starts with teachers.

The job of Teacher is very important, and it should be revered as such. The teacher shapes our youth, not only in curriculum, but also in social and political ways. It is very apparent how much a good teacher can impact a single student or a class of 20+, when you look at the results. Certain teachers consistently turn out higher scores and bigger gains in all areas than others. Parents notice a change in their child's vocabulary, and they understand the difference between the year they had slacker teacher Mr. Slackerman, and the next year when they had all star teacher Mrs. Lovesteaching.

Our educational failure in America cannot be simply summed up by good teacher vs bad teacher. I simply want to point out that there are far more bad teachers than good ones, but I think the stats may be similar to any other profession, where you have your slackers and your hard workers, etc.

The School Board is making it hard for anyone to be a good teacher by limiting their ability to actually teach. Each year they are given more assessments to give and more administrative paperwork to fill out. They get less time to actually plan their lessons, but are required to take time to make plans that take way longer than plans they may actually use. Teachers get paid very little, and are asked to put in much of their own time and money into their classrooms.

There are also many other shenanigans going on behind the scenes that rarely anyone gets the full story about. Corrupt spending, backroom deals for computer equipment, books, and other supplies. After care money being siphoned into other budgetary areas... and straight up gossipy tramps not teaching, but acting like they do - still getting paid the same as the all star teachers....

What can we do? Does anyone care?