This in many cases is the crux of the problem. My wife is a teacher and has one the teacher of the year award twice (before we moved.) We moved and her first year in the new system she had a behaviorly challenged child with an IQ of 40 in the same class as students with IQ's of 140 (and no I am not exaggerating.) Half of her class had an IQ below 85. She spent more time disciplining and handling the problem students than she did actually teaching.

Regardless of the good teacher, recruiting good teachers arguement etc. The public education system in the state I live in will be sub-par until people are in appropriate classrooms. Everyone will cry out that everyone should receive the same education, but the kid with an IQ of 40 was learning nothing, and taking away from those who could acheive more. Both would benefit from seperate learning environments.

Throwing more money at the system is not the answer. My wife is now transferring to a private school and taking a 25% pay cut. No union, less money, but she wants to teach, not be a mother to someone elses kids. Same hours, less pay, but a better teaching environment and most if not all the students actually want to learn. The public education system (at least in my area) is broken and the union's protect the bad teachers, and the good ones often look for employment elsewhere.