Actually I did shadow my daughter through a week of classes at a public high school (and it was one of the high schools that was considered one of the better PPS high schools). What I saw, with disrespect and disregard to the teachers, kids going in and out of the classroom like it was a revolving door, teachers just going through lessons - often with an unmasked bias. It made me downgrade my level of living (which wasn't too high to begin with) and put her in a private Christian high school. She will graduate this year. When asked she admits that in the public high school she did 10% of the work that the Christian high school demands.

I add that to the volumes of material I read about how public education has failed the kids (you wish to read more go to www.joannejacobs.com and see what is going on). New math and new reading are jokes, some of the fall out from the 'new reading' (aka whole language reading) has already come home to roost, but they are starting to mess up math now.

So yes, I've seen what the public educational system is - you've posed the question, I've answered it. So here is my question to you - Have YOU actually spent some recent time in a classroom? Have YOU actually dealt with a recent high school graduate (who couldn't do 3 X 4 without a calculator)? He was typical, I see in all the time in kids that we interview and test for jobs in construction.