Yea , its the republicans ,not the completely screwed-up ,dysfunctional , indoctrinating ad-libbies , whom comprise the vast majority of teachers ? particularly "HIGHER EDUCATION" .And monetary expenditures have left the stratosphere and it does not help , it makes it worse. Its sooo broken ,the govt. , should get out of education altogether , or , like everything else it runs it runs into the ground . You know , crash and burn!?

Andrew, I guess you missed the part where teachers still taught their classes with NO PAY. Your last name isn't 'Breitbart' is it?

John don't you love how when people have no logic to defend their point they always want to parlay it into something about government spending....even on education which is a vital service receiving a lot less money in the places it needs to have funds.

Here an idea stop increading defense spending every year those that are so concerned about spending. Why more increases in spending if we're not entering another war.......revealing some of your plans...Iran......

Cut the war on drugs those that are concerned about spending it's not working and costing more every year

cut congressional salaries.....there are tons of cuts that can be made but what is it always? Cuts to education and the poor and middle class only. Never want to consider cutting anything on defense or various other areas where it's without a doubt not needed, never want to close corporate loopholes or make small increases in taxes....only cut education. Why? you ask....well the GOP knows the more educated people are the less likely they are to vote republican. The party knows it is on the wrong side of the developing demographics and the tea party is shrinking the tent further so they need to game the system to stay competitive.

oh yeah and unless Andrew is a zombie or vampire I'm not sure his last name is Breitbart.....or maybe an android like Mitt Romney

Stupidita...

Nice name...

It fits...

Hey stupid the states do run the show that's why each state has different educational requirements. The states have failed. Go look at places whose education systems are superior to our own(now of course you will not but others reading may) let's do they have national standards or not? Do they have decentralized education authorities? Are they beating us?

Explain how the spending is responsible for what is taught is the classroom, which is funny since they don't decide the federal budget...?? So we're all ears....why should someone in WI need to know more or less than someone from GA aren't they all going for the same jobs on the global market, aren't they all going to have to compete with China, India and Europe?

Dick Nixon created the EPA how do feel about that?

The top countries schools kick out the trouble makers and rapists instead of giving them awards so they feel good. They don't tolerate teachers sleeping with students, and fire them.

And if the student doesn't want to learn, they stick them in a trade schools and wish them well in there life.

And you learn in the local language. They don't force there kids to learn in some other countries language.

I could live with a much better school system like they have overseas.

Couldn't vote that crook out, Do remember how he interrupted sat cartoons with his criminal activity. May he rot in hell and every rino since who didn't repeal it.

But if the states had control of the schools, then how pray tell did bush's "No child gets an education" get implemented nationwide? Why did those bastions of rights not tell him to sod off? We will teach are students.

Wisconsin should know more about surviving in an icy winter condition than georgia. Chances are good they will use that knowledge more.

Georgia should teach more about agriculture and northern aggression. There cities were burned down by the union. And president peanut is their shame, at least they can hold there heads up now as only a bad not the worst.

But if the states had control of the schools, then how pray tell did bush's "No child gets an education" get implemented nationwide? Why did those bastions of rights not tell him to sod off? We will teach are students.

States have failed. I rest my case.

To humor anyone who wants to take this seriously No Child Left Behind doesn't really deal with much in terms of specific standards it controls the amount of federal the schools get based on test scores. Test scores on tests that are different from state to state and are not adequate when compared to those of other nations. The individual states and districts decided what gets taught how many classes are required for graduation. Two adjacent districts may have entirely different numbers of credits required, anyone want to claim that makes any sense?

No it doesn't make any sense. That said not sure states or local school districts really have control unless they control the money. As you indicate at least in part feds do control by controlling the purse. All that said- then what is the solution. A lot of money has been spent on "education" for a lot years.

No but they have control about what matters which is the ciriculuum we waste a lot of time looking at this as a spending money issue or something about teachers that has little to do with it. What we need is more riggorous classes on par with those of other nations. If you don't address the what's being taught issue you're not changing anything

Obama feels the private school is good for his girls.

A union that won't let the schools get rid of teachers who are to dangerous to be around children does have problems. That is what needs fixing.

Boy doesn't it just s*ck to have all that power you have been grabbing for 50 years turned against you now. They couldn't grab up the schools if someone hadn't created a way for them to do it. A limited enumerated government is not a threat to anyone.

Nice of you to live in your own little world of bankrupt beliefs. I won't try to dissuade you because I know you don't want to hear the truth of the matter, or you wouldn't parrot the same old canards that are always trotted out when this issue is brought up. Add a fact or two that we haven't heard or just admit you're a paid shill or policy zombie conjured by one.

My point is just the one you fail to make in your last sentence. The Corbett Administration is exceeding those limited and enumerated powers assigned to it by the Pennsylvania Constitution and falling short of meeting the duties assigned to it in that same document. Where is disenfranching local voters a legitimate use of political power? Where is the wholesale transfer of public tax money to for-profit corporate cronies a public good?

Don't think it is. But if it is exceeding the powers, challenge it in court.

You will find out one of three things. 1. You are right, and he is stopped. 2. You are wrong, oops ok. or 3. The courts are corrupt. If the latter the founding fathers left a remedy for you to take against tyrants.

What voter disenfranchising, there are federal laws against that? If they passed a voter id law, that doesn't stop you from voting, that stops people not allowed to vote from voting. Or at least helps stop them.

NJ challenged Christie, and got his school budget overturned. I personally think they overstepped their authority, they should have just declared it unconstitutional, and let the congress start over, not submit there own.

In what way is public education a miserable failure? Give me any purported evidence and I will debunk it.

Wait, since you mentioned tenure, I'll address that. Any tenured teacher in Pennsylvania can be fired after two consecutive unsatisfactory evaluations. These evaluations can even come within the same school year. This means that within a few months of identifying unsatisfactory performance a teacher can find him/herself out. This can happen the very same day if issues of child safety are involved.

Tenure protects teachers from being fired because its cheaper to hire inexperienced teachers, because the school board members niece wants a job, or because the teacher dares to take a political stand against comment board trolls.

Talk about what you know, or keep quiet.

W&M, The academic performance of US schools when compared to other countries is sufficient to defend my position. We spend more and more money and continue to get poor results. As for your arguement for Tenure, do you know of any other job that has Tenure? Are Police, Firefighters, Nurses, Electricians, Clerks, etc... not subject to the same potential threat you suggest is responsible for Teacher's Tenure? Tenure is used to keep substandard Teachers in their jobs? How many Teachers have been removed from their positions in Pennsylvania?

In the 2007-08 school year, just 16 of 11,000 Philadelphia teachers were rated unsatisfactory, and only six were dismissed for poor classroom performance. The School District did not provide more recent data.

"States do virtually nothing to establish a teacher's effectiveness in the classroom before awarding them permanent employment status," said a 2008 report from the National Council on Teacher Quality, which gave Pennsylvania a "D" grade for identifying ineffective teachers. "The state lacks any meaningful process to evaluate cumulative effectiveness in the classroom before teachers are awarded tenure."

E-Z, It's amazing to me that people like you even exist. Do you really believe that the schools in Philly are failing because of the teachers? Do you have any idea what it takes to simply survive a semester of teaching in a public school? Most new teachers in Philadelphia wash out after the first year, or rather did, before the district laid them all off last summer. Thankfully, some were hired back. The brave ones. The tough ones. If you survive to teach for years in Philadelphia you become a grizzled vet who could teach anything to anyone anywhere. Maybe even you.

Teachers in public school need to have thick skin and think on their feet. They need to make due with next to nothing from their district, (A district controlled by the state by the way) and are expected to achieve everything. Teachers in public schools believe that every child is entitled to a quality public education with no regard to race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability... Or even if the kid's just a plain old jerk. It's our job to care even if no one else does.

It's true that we make a decent wage. That's what makes us such an easy target. Especially since everyone who went to school invariably believes that they could teach in one, and probably for less money. No one questions what a doctor or lawyer makes, but there are teachers with degrees more advanced than some doctors and most lawyers. No child left behind made public school teachers become, "Highly Qualified." That little ditty amounted to about thirty grand for most of us. And I wonder if doctors routinely buy supplies and materials for their patients out of their own pockets. Maybe. My district gives us one hundred dollars for additional supplies. I spent almost two thousand last year alone.

No, E-Z, our problem is apathy. It's the thing we teachers fight against day in and day out. Republicans know this. They count on it. They are right now dismantling and selling off the Philadelphia school district piece by piece to the highest bidder. They do this and count on apathy. They think that people will just sit back and watch it happen. Thank you Ed for being there and doing what you do. Hopefully people will learn something, and that's good. Knowledge is apathy's best cure.

Ahh, I was waiting for the performance issue. Fist of all, the United States is one of the only countries to have true universal education at the age of 16. For instance, in the UK, mandatory education ends at 15. So, PISA test takers in the UK have already been self-selected for students WHO WANT education, unlike the US. In many Asian countries, high schools require an admission test with only the best students getting in. Guess what, when you select students based on their ability to take a test, they test pretty well.

OK enough of that. Even given these disadvantages the US outperforms ALL NATIONS on the PISA exams (whaich are specifically used to compare countries) when normalized for poverty.

US PISA test school poverty rate = 21.7%, (That tragic data in and of itself is worthy of a whole separate discussion.)

If you look at US schools with 10% or less poverty: US PISA = 551 (#1); South Korea = 539 (#2); Finland = 536 (#3).

Schools with 10-25% poverty: US PISA = 527 (#1); Canada = 524 (#2); New Zealand = 521 (#3)

Schools with 25-50% poverty: US PISA = 502 (#1); Estonia and Switzerland (tied) = 501 (#2)

Schools with 50-75% poverty: US PISA = 471 (#1); Tied with Austria, Turkey = 464 (#3)

Over 75% poverty: USA PISA = 446 (#1); Mexico = 425 (#2)

Incidentally, overcoming the insidious effects of poverty in urban schools is why their per student cost is so high. Want to fix schools? Fix poverty.

Continuing on tenure. Tenure DOES NOT keep ineffective teacher at their jobs. Ineffective principals keep ineffective teachers in their jobs. I'd agree that few teachers are actually rated ineffective when more ought to be BECAUSE many principals are not active enough at identifying ineffective teachers. But that's neither a teacher issue nor is it a union issue.

Other professions do have those same protections through either tenure or civil service. Those that don't ought to organize and get those protections. Plus there is a significant difference between the private sector and the public sector. If you are making money from the work of your employees, you must attract and retain the best employees you can. No one is making a profit off education (unless your a charter school or test writing company) so there is no economic incentive to retain quality employees. Therefore tenure is a necessary protection.

May I school you more?

They could carry guns just like zimmerman, that they chose to be victims just like trayvon. I would like to know what they were dong to get that close to that many thugs. But at some point you have to ask why they thought the police would help them.

And now they are going after the internet so you can't learn that way either.

There are terrabytes of lectures on everything from european dark age mythology, to advanced particle physics available. But they are trying to censor, and shut it off. I die laughing at the disclaimers on the stuff our government declares illegal, don't try this at home you will go to jail, this video was made outside the united state.

Go to home schooling websites, and conferences. Even if you don't want to teach your child at home, you will see what is available outside the system, and can insure your child gets at least as good an education. You get to talk to text book publishers, and other parents who won't settle for less than excellence. A wealth of information for a few bucks admission.

My best teachers failed me in class. I did learn the information, as when I took chemistry in college, it was, hey I know this. But I was to lazy to do the homework. Are they even aloud to fail someone anymore? They had a ada official talking about how we need mandatory preschool as the children who don't go are not ready, and are not prepared. So I asked, "How many who don't go failed?"

She said that doesn't mater. You say they need to spend millions for forced preschool, yet admit they are passing. So either you don't need the preschool, or they are passing children who shouldn't be moved ahead to the next grade.

Either way, there was the problem, not money.