-True. There already is competition between schools anyway, when people move to neighborhoods with schools that have less minorities. "How are the schools there?' is generally a question that is code for 'How many blacks and/or hispanics are in that school?'

I think school districts themselves are in competition. Competition for parents who can own houses and properties that are worth being taxed in order to run the schools. Some great system. 'Hey, so long as there's great property values, your children can get books and have smaller classroom sizes and better teachers. And when there's a flight of wealth and capital, you white trash and spics and blacks are SOL.'

How come the failure of Edison Schools INC. hasn't shut people up about making primary education for profit?

The US rose to world prominence, in terms of industry and running the world and economics, filling its labor and political ranks with the end products of the public school education system. What happened to that?

No Child Left Behind? That's a Bush-Kennedy piece of legislation, not a Conservative approach to education. Conservatives believe in choice, a free market education system, and real emphasis on learning as opposed to "fuzzy math." It's ridiculous to think that teachers should oppose abortion on principle? We all know that abortion doesn't mean all students are aborted, but with the current abortion rate, the average class in the US could have a couple more students in it. There'd be thousands more teachers across the country needed for the increase. I wasn't left behind, but apparently you were.

You really are a retarded little toad.

I know a lot of this is tongue in cheek, but I have a few comments:

#9- Tax Cuts

Whenever there are tax cuts, especially on the local and state levels, education is often hurt the worst, especially the arts and music and the like. I'm not sure tax cuts are very good for teachers. I'd say a better solution would be to negotiate with the union to implement some sort of merit based pay system to encourage teachers to be the best.

#8- Competition

Competition is great for just about every industry. Education does not fit well into the competition because scale economics. The biggest cost to schools is the construction and maintenance of buildings and grounds. Due to economics of size it is far more expensive to have, for example, 2 schools with 400 students than one with 800. Implementing a competitive system will almost certainly increase the cost of education. And unlike private industry we could never close a school that is a money pit without finding a new place for those students.

#2-Free thought

"Conservatism is the natural logical position"? Tell that to Socrates, Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rosseau and all the other great liberal thinkers. Not that all liberals are great thinkers or all great thinkers are liberal.

Teachers of today are the hippies of yesterday, and many believe deep down that everything would work for the benefit of society if it was all socialized, and the village took over the care of our children. They have been hammered by the left that only a tax raise will result in more money for teachers, competition produces losers and who wants a society where someone can lose? As for gay parents, my daughter in her high school has been taught about tolerance, and that to even say anything against gays can result in suspension (Christian bashing runs amok however). They believe competition is bad because the competition will take their job away from them. War results in death, and "make love, not war, man." Many teachers believe that America was founded upon secular values (is that an oxymoron?) and so the Constitution has been misinterpreted and liberal judges are needed to correct that. Legos? dangerous. Liberals believe you cannot be trusted to keep yourself safe or make reasonable decisions, so why would they allow you to have fun? You might do something stupid. Free thought is dangerous to them. You might realize their agenda. To them abortion is not about the life of an unborn child, but about the right to have a decision - which is contradictory. The Left wants government to handle everything for you because you can't think for yourself, but yet they want to place decision regarding the life or death of an unborn human being into the hands of the citizenry.