...Actually, no. I left because of the recession. Dallas had a hiring freeze, Austin was hiring less teachers. Others simply couldn't offer enough to allow me to teach and pay my bills. Hmm.. Those cities are in TEXAS. I'm a Texan. I got myself into debt to be a teacher. I had to get myself out. I would've much rather taught in Austin at the time, and one of my friends (a former JET) is teaching high school as an English teacher in Austin.

Now, I stay in Japan because I have built a life here. It's my home. That's really what comes down to.

Are they working? For some students, yes. Are they headed in the right direction, in some ways. But the problems between districts and states are different. Not every school has the same issues as every other school. I believe teachers are working hard, collectively, to do the best they can. Are there bad teachers? Yes. Sadly. This is true of every industry. Do I think they are the majority, or even a significant minority? Doesn't ring true.

Fair enough. It's an internet forum. We choose our priorities. I happen to be an educator, and so I admit, I can rarely take myself "off shift." I'm always trying to teach. I'm sorry your education was so piss poor. What did you do to make the most of it?

I'm from Texas. My experiences do not match yours. Especially when it comes to the quality of teachers. I would not say I saw total idiots starting college. I did see plenty of people who did not take education seriously. That is not the same thing.

Texas IS one of the "worst systems" in the nation. I believe we are 48th. That's pretty despicable. Education took a serious hit under George W. Bush. Believe me, I know. I wish I didn't. However, this was largely because of the funding he removed after he took over from Anne Richards. He removed funding for head start programs. He cut equipment and facility funds. He cut funds for alternative certification. He cuts funds for after school programs... This was not because of the teachers. Perry hasn't done much better. In fact, he hasn't done better at all.

We don't get paid well, no. But not trained well? Seriously? I don't buy it. All the teachers I know, including myself, went through far more training than my Japanese counterparts. Texas training standards are different, but not incomparable to other states. Several of my teachers had master's degrees. School librarians are required to have master's in library science. Administrators have master's in education. I plan to get a master's in philosophy.

And I'm in not in a teachers union. Certainly not one in Texas.

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No. I wanted you to cite sources. I still do. I am genuinely curious. If schools are that much worse than I thought they were in the four years since I graduated from college, then now that I'm debt free, I might just have to move back (assuming I can get hired by recession hit school districts) because my country really needs me!

Sounds to me like a bunch of bitter teenagers who hated their school experiences and want to blame it on the teachers and administrators. I hated school. Absolutely hated it. I was miserable. I had very few moments of genuine happiness. You know what I really hated? Being an adolescent. Hard to judge my school experiences independent of that fact.

I love teaching. I love when I can encourage someone to learn. I love it when I can be a kid's "moment of genuine happiness" like teachers I can name were for me. Do I think they're going to look back on adolescence and think it's awesome because of me? No. Do I think that our students will notice at 14 or 15 that the changes we manage to make has made their schooling better? No. They might at twenty. I would hope by thirty.

Man if I knew then what I know now... But, of course, hindsight is 20/20. I had so many opportunities to learn that I ignored. I had so many opportunities to play sports, work in activities, make excellent grades, be published beyond what I was fortunate enough to do. I spent most of my time on the internet talking about Sailor Moon. While I still love doing that, and I certainly can't complain about how successful I am now, and I am very happy, if I had taken personal responsibility for my education at a younger age, well... there's no telling what I might have accomplished. Just because I had good teachers didn't mean they could do the job for me.

As a matter of fact, I have researched the topic. Not extremely recently (meaning last few months), but definitely in preceding years. Which would make sense, given my career and nationality. I am well aware of the problems. I just don7t think that equates to babysitting just for socialising without any benefit to American society. Certainly not as mind-washing propaganda camps for the US military, which you explicitly stated in your first post.

And frankly forget links. I'd rather you cite bibliographical data from books. Love me some books. Hardcover books. Yellowed pages, with that crisp woody smell... ebooks will never be the same.

The public school systems in America are not a monopoly. Especially not in Texas. School districts compete against each other and private schools for enrollment and funds. You do know you could have petitioned to go to a higher rated school in your area, right?

My system is the Japanese system, which you commented about earlier. You made statements about the Japanese system, and I offered my personal experience teaching inside of that system.

America is not the educational leader it once was, I will certainly agree with you there. In all states, not just Texas. However, I do not believe that the majority are failing TAKS (it was TAAS when I took it), although scores in lower income and border areas are indeed dipping in ways that are worrisome. But the teacher and school are only part of team of players, including the student, and the student's parents. Teachers cannot do it alone.

Part two:

I was in school from 1988-2001. K-12. I was in college from 2001-2006 (I was a Music Education major, changed to English, changed universities, lost about 18 hours of credits and I worked too, hence five years). I moved overseas in November of 2007.

I didn't know anyone who went to court for being truant. I am aware that schools lose funding for absences if they stack up. I learned A LOT in my classes. I realise now I could have learned a lot more if I had paid more attention. I never felt warehoused, especially when it came to music and English, which I loved. I also took several AP courses because I wanted to, but even my regular classes never felt inadequate. If anything was inadequate, it was my sense of personal responsibility.

Left November 2007. So it wasn't that long ago. I don't think the system could completely collapse in two years... And believe me. It's pretty impossible to look back at my own academic experiences with rose colored glasses. As I said, I was pretty miserable. I don't think I was ever genuinely happy about much at all until I moved to Japan. That covers a lot of different career attempts (journalism, the navy, politics, public relations, marketing, did a few month selling shoes...) as well as my education background.

I do know that even in the US, I loved teaching, and would have been quite happy to stay if I could have found a job paying about $28K a year, which is what I needed to pay off student loans, get an apartment, pay for my car, etc. Obviously, I'd need benefits at well.

There are good teachers lining up to work at any school that will pay them a living wage. We can't work, if it means racking up more debt. The fact of the matter is that the low-income school problem is self-refreshing. Low-income schools have low tax allocations. Low tax allocations mean less money for teachers and equipment and facilities. This in turn means larger class sizes, less individual attention, more students fall through the cracks. They end up living in the same are, contributing to its low-income tax allocation. A vicious cycle.

The answer, I believe, which will get the states' righters up in arms, isn't charter schools (which there's nothing wrong with, I like charter schools), but a nationalised system that allocates federally collected tax money to each school equally. Regardless of tax income of the area. Add onto that federally mandated tests, federally mandated goals, federally mandated textbooks, etc. It'll never happen because of the US political structure. So we have to do the best we can with what we have. The answer is not to blame the teachers, but to support them.

Seems like this got dropped when I split the post... I can't remember what I said, but I think it was a return to the vicious circle mentioned above. Especially in regards to violence. Also, violence happens in Japanese schools too. Last year a student (one of the ones that failed out) threw a desk at a teacher. And I live in the middle of nowhere.

Why is that? If you say because I am teaching in Japan and not the USA... I would say you're right. And yes, I do feel guilty about it. If you say it because I refuse to stand by while you paint American teachers with a broad brush, then I'm sorry. Blaming the teachers is not the answer.

I agree that it shouldn't be, I don't agree that it often is.

Oh believe me. Japanese junior high school is quite compulsory. We made them attend anyhow. Doesn't mean we could force them to do any work.

Substitute teachers are not trained teachers. Anyone can be a substitute as long as they have a degree. This is fine, as long as they only fill in for a day or two. You're telling me they let him stay the whole year without him at least gaining alternative certification or undergoing supervision with a certified teacher??? That's outrageous! You had every right, and I mean every right, to complain all the way up the chain on that one. I would have. In fact I wish I knew what school district this was so I could read them the riot act. You are absolutely right. That is atrocious. It should never have happened, and I apologise for it.

See above. Subs are only supposed to fill in for one or two days. They are not supposed to be teaching, they are merely supposed to be supervising. What your school did is unforgivable. I am also fairly certain it's breaks all sort of State Education Board policies in Texas. I'll see if I can pull up the relevant statutes. That's... I believe you. I certainly believe you. But I'm appalled.

...that was my school career, not my teaching career. My parents moved a lot. My mother was already a librarian, but my father retired from the Air Force, then got a degree from one university, his master's from another, and has changed jobs twice in the last ten years.

It was in a public school in Texas. One that you would probably term a "yuppie school" I suppose. High income, high tax allocation. And I'll have you know that Travis County (Austin) and Harris County (Dallas) went for Kerry and Obama. So did at least one other country (Brownsville's maybe?). I never voted Republican. I didn't have to tell you that, but I'm telling you anyway.

I am all for the knowledge for knowledge's sake argument, but at the same time, it has to be sensible. Sure, the things I mentioned might be of benefit of SOME people, but the practical lessons, enjoyed or despised would be of practical benefit for all people. I'm not talking about elective classes here, i'm talking about the compulsory ones we took pre-GCSE. The packaging design, industrial food industry, etc are fine for those with a genuine interest in pursuing a class or career in that direction, but are a waste of time for those only learning, as you say, that it isn't for them. Which is relatively ironic as now i have a grasp of cooking and DIY i really enjoy them, but i certainly didn't at school.

I think in the last year, there's been a push to bring gardening back into schools and so on. There's been a lot of 'dig in' campaigns, but interestingly, not run by the government as much of the state school campaigns are. It's been done through things like big companies and the BBC instead.

I think both you and Salvanas are talking about different things... The definition of art you've just used can be used for anything. Someone could say there is an art to taking a piss! It doesn't mean it's art! I think Salvanas does have a point... the majority of people I know that are "artists", studying Art, illustration, cinematography etc are people that failed at school!

My mistake...that was Tsuwabuki. But I agree with him. Many if the students I taught didn't even know who the prime minister was at the time.

Again, I meant American, not Japanese. My mistake, but I appreciate you seeing through my error.

Again with the black and whites. People pay attention.

This is a bit of a cop-out of a response, because you are saying the fact a certain percentage of American students don't know who Thomas Jefferson is an indicator of the failure of the American public education system, but then turn around and say it is OK for Japanese to not have that same sort of knowledge in Japan.

Yes, students in Japan learn about hurricanes and tsunamis...and students in the Midwest learn about cattle and agriculture.

Do I wish all students of American (and Japanese, for that matter) understood the government they live under? Absolutely...but that is partially a bias on my part, as it is important to me. Would I rather they learn that then how to, say grow food without E.Coli? Well, not if it is the food I am going to eat. There are different priorities for different areas.

I do agree with you. The system that worked 50 years ago in the US doesn't work now. I think a lot of that is simple finances. The best investment in a tax dollar is toward education, but cuts lead to being forced to invest more into heathcare, welfare, courts and prisons, etc...but that is an argument for another day.

I think there is some truth to this, and I appreciate you clarifying your point. No teacher goes into teaching for the money, and it is one of the few career paths that require a high level of education for the pay of a full time fast food employee. I would also agree that getting good teachers to stay in "bad schools" is one of the great difficulties of the education system as it is. I know Chicago is looking at putting really good principals into "bad schools" as a way to keep good teachers there. As different school districts experiment with different systems, let's hope there are some positive results.

Imagine picking up a newspaper or magazine that was devoid of photographs.

How much money would have been made in donations to Haiti without the pictures sent to our newspapers and TVs?

And I read your clarification, and I still think my post has merit. You can pick and choose which artists are worthy of existence and which are not, but you can't pretend there is no interconnectivity between creative thought and human advancement.

Even if you think someone's existence has no social worth, I am glad you weren't the one to give Da Vinci the heave-ho so another barber/bloodletter could have a job.

You may not see the worth in a said artist's or photographer's work, but if it inspires someone in a way that makes the world a better place, then who are you to say their existence is meaningless?

MMM, just out of curiosity, does imagination = art, for you?

It depends on how imagination is applied....but to answer your question, no I would not say imagination is art.

I am as interested in getting in a discussion about defining art as I am in water torture. My point still stands that without artists we would still be living in caves. I think that being an artist doesn't mean you can't be something else. There are certainly doctors, lawyers and business people who are artists in both the traditional sense as well as artists in their own right.

Salvanas says he would sacrifice 50 artists for three doctors, but there are all kinds of doctors. I would hope the artistic talents of those poor artists are transferred to those doctors so they can find the most creative and effective ways to solve their patients' dilemmas.

If you're aiming to be a historian and claim to know how important art, creativity, and design have been through the course of human history then you should know how important it is to embrace creativity today.

I would not rather 50 less artists and 3 more qualified doctors because that's now how we work as humans. I don't want someone becoming a doctor if they do not want to. I don't want MY doctor thinking every day how much he'd rather be doing something else but couldn't because he was not allowed to.

Now here's a video to help illustrate what I mean by saying how important creativity is today, and that we cannot have an over saturation.

Tim Brown on creativity and play | Video on TED.com Mind you, this video is about 27 minutes long.