There is no more important job. None. Not doctor, not president, not garbage man or police officer. A nation’s educational system has always been equal to its success. Teaching is the wellspring from which we get new technologies. It is our primary source of both economic and military strength. The U.S. is not a military super power because of our military's size; there are many larger armies’. We are a significant power because our educational system was ahead of the global curve long enough to give us significant Economical and Technological advantages. Unfortunately for us, many nations saw this, and wisely followed suit. If we do not compete on this level, in the field of education; then we WILL lose both our economic and military advantages. This process has already begun, and we are losing ground. Educational quality affects the economy in very large, significant ways. The economic strength of an area greatly affects its crime rate, employment rate, and level of homelessness. There is no end to how damaging a poor educational system can be, and like-wise near unlimited potential in the benefits of a strong one. We need a large supply of well trained, well paid teachers. I sincerely hope that all of us keep close at mind, that our nation’s success leans heavily on the quality of its educational systems.

Well said, but I despair of fixing this problem.. I know a teacher who is probably one of the greatest in any school anywhere, who has an outstanding record of motivating students and getting them into post-high-school education. Even the kids who were essentially written off by the administrators.

This same teacher is calling it quits, after enduring a a string of incompetent (and in one case passibly psychotic) principals, administrators who couldn't teach their way out of a wet paper bag, disruptive students, and a whole bunch of people like "A Dude" who seem to think that teachers are overpaid and lazy.

By the way Dude, how do you propose to reward truly excellent teachers? Your answer would probably be "let them keep their job...."

But, we'll just keep yelling about No Child Left Behind, acocmplish nothing, and watch education go further into the toilet.

If by educational system you mean school system then this is poppycock. But if you mean the way in which Americans are educated you are partially right. Our school system and our students test scores in comparison to other advanced industrialized nations have been rubbish for long enough time that we would be totally out of the game if they were the basis of our success. However they are not. Our success is rooted in some degree in our national character. Optimistic pragmatism and hard work being two examples of traits that have made us successful. But in my mind more important than that is the fact that we have imported much of our technological and scientific acumen from overseas because of the relative freedom we possess.

I will go so far as to say that our Military would benefit greatly from moving as much as 20% of its total budget out of our Military sector and into education spending to help secure/maintain future technological Military advantages. This could also help to strengthen industry on a whole, something our Military is also vastly dependent on.

On the issue of the deserving teacher, he needs more pay. Not to insult the man's character, but many of us work jobs we don't care for because the pay is as right as it is needed. Unfortunately, teachers rarely make what they should. We do need more teachers, but we also need to pay our existing teachers CONSIDERABLY more. The whole system needs a great deal of reform, but we need to start somewhere and spending government money in one of our most important sectors is would be a fine start. Still, something important to keep in mind is that we cannot make a system without flaws. We cannot eliminate all the bad teachers and principals and we cannot create a set of rules that will apply well to every hiring or firing occasion. We are all human, and thusly flawed. So no matter how many improvements we make to any system, there is always going to be something significant to complain about. I think sometimes people forget that. While we need to do more, we cannot make it perfect. Trying to would only serve to tie us in legal knots, and lay the groundwork for future troubles. Flexibility is an asset. Just ask our forefathers.

A big problem with public education is the lack of redress. I'm sure it would create havoc for quite a while, but a market solution (where public education is one of the competitors) would, if nothing else, *force* public schools to clean their act up.

Den... I agree we need to pay good teachers better. However, we should always ask as taxpayers what are you doing with the money we already give you. I once read that in Japan for every teacher there was one support person whether that was a janitor or a principle etc. In Los Angeles unified there was five support persons for every working teacher. I don't know for sure if this is accurate but the point is that many school districts are very top heavy and a lot of the money to increase teacher's pay could come from eliminating some of this top heavy beauacracy.