He must have taken War and Power 401 while the rest of his classmates elected to take Humanity, Social Studies, Building Nations with Diplomacy, The Concesequenences of War, World Peace Strategies and English Grammar 101.

I guess this is a prime example of how poor decisions during your school years can seriously affect the rest of your life and devastate many others.

The teachers are 'teaching the test' instead of teaching the material. Very bad system.

>Posted By Ryan Indianapolis

Thanks for proving why we need critical thinking skills taught in our schools. Oh, by the way, nobody was making this story up (about Bush's speech aid).
And how are liberals traitors, exactly? Nice display of level headed debate skills you got there.

Um, okay, you just said there aren't enough people who want to go into the profession, and then you say you want to fire the ones who aren't up to par...these two statements seem contradictory.

Second, the fundamental error with that thinking is if every teacher is performing within one percent of each other there will always be a "bottom 1%" but not necessarily a bad bottom 1%

Third, NCLB has absolutely nothing to do with teacher's salary, it is simply holding teachers accountable for standards the government deems important, which by the way, are not the same in every state

Bravo to your posting.

Charter schools are hammering public schools across the board and should be expanded and not shunned.

Merit pay for the good teachers should be expanded twofold as should early childhood ed.

Increase the breakfast program to make sure that children start the day right, so they can learn RIGHT.

Poor teachers that stopped giving a bleep, tenured or not, should be canned.

Parents should discipline their children at home and NOT expect the school system to do so.

Parent should pull away from Oprah or ET and do homework with their children, it is one of my favorite things I do as a parent.

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

Posted By laurinda,ny : September 26, 2007 4:04 pm

You simply just make things up when all else fails,,,YOur type (liberals) are a sorry bunch of liars and traitors to this country

TEACHERS ARE UNDERPAID. That doesn't mean current teachers need more money, it means students, smart ones, are turning away from the career because it isn't viable. As a man, you can't support a family as a high school teacher. That gives strong academic performers zero reason to become a teacher in public schools. That decreases the quality of teachers entering and staying in the workforce. THAT is why teachers who are successful deserve recognition through better pay. Wouldn't you like to be evaluated for performance each year and given a raise based upon that? Wait, that's exactly what is being done everywhere else! Finally somebody tried to reign in the teacher's union and establish pay based on performance and not based upon years experience.

No Child Left Behind isn't even going far enough. The bottom 1% of teachers should be FIRED every year. Give their salaries to somebody who knows how to do their job. God forbid we expect people to be good at their job and handle challenges. When a teacher goes above and beyond and helps his students excell, that is exactly where money should be sent!

Politicians have no business sticking their noses in education to look good in the public eye. This is no different that the fake display of working class sympathy when a politician dons a hardhat while speaking to union workers.

Those who blame teachers for society's ills are sadly misinformed. The issues facing educational reform are complex and require solutions beyond simplistic test scores. But it takes critical thinking skills to acknowledge this, and critical thinking is ignored with No Child Left Behind

Hillary Clinton would like to think otherwise. Apparently it was the job that makes her the most experienced candidate for President in history.