I have to say, I think this school year is going to be interesting. My oldest son is starting high school, my youngest son is starting 7th grade and my baby is starting pre-k at her day care. My daughters not by birth are starting their junior and 8th grade years. Between NCLB and the unions, it's a wonder my kids learn anything. They come home and I ask "What did you learn today in...." Heck if they know. We just drove through PA on the way back from CT to pick my boys up from their dad's, and we passed a sign that said "Birthplace of James Buchanan." So I asked if either child knew who James Buchanan was. Nope, all I got was "Who?" and blank stares. Now when my husband and I were in GRADE SCHOOL, we had to know all the presidents and their terms of office. My boys said all they have to know are the IMPORTANT ones. So who is not important? I think it's important that any of them became President, and actually I think the ineffective ones were every bit as important as their effective counterparts. Maybe more so, because if one screwed up, the next had to fix it quick.

Then youhave the general lack of geographic knowledge. We also had to know states, capitols, countries and capitols, etc. Climates, basic knowledge of the peoples of different lands......

And math was math. One plus one ALWAYS equalled TWO, no matter how you found the answer. We didn't get feel-good-raise-your-self-esteem-falsely points for getting the wrong answer. Sometimes right is right and wrong is just plain wrong.

By the way, I do believe that teachers should have to pass a comprehensive knowledge test in their area of certification, be it math, science, history, elementary ed., or whatever. And if they can't pass it, then they don't teach until they can. Sorry, folks. CPA's have to pass a test to be certified, so do attorneys. So do doctors. Would anyone want a brain surgeon who couldn't pass his exams in that specialty to operate on him/her? I wouldn't. I want to know that the person teaching my child integers and fractions and the pythagorean theorem knows what the heck he/she is talking about.

And kind of on the same subject: when did it become ok for teachers to dress like their students? Our local high school has a principal who tends to dress like the teenage girls that she is supposed to enforce the county dress code on. It makes it rather difficult to stress the proper way to dress for school when the teachers are wearing the latest from Aeropostale or Pac Sun, too. Not to mention the disturbing tendency of some teachers to comment on a student's looks/attire. Not quietly amongst themselves:"Someone needs a reminder that flipflops are not permissible." But to the student--"What a cute outfit! You look so pretty today." From male and female teachers. Never would have been done just 20 years ago. That would have been grounds for at least some serious questions by the parents of said child. The boundaries are nonexistent anymore, and that's not a good thing.

At least we tended to have respect for our teachers, even if we didn't like them. And if we didn't have respect, we were smart enough not to show it while at school; our teachers demanded respect just like our parents did.