I am still in school and this is my opinion on how things are going:

The school systems are horrible, and really I don't think it is so much the students as it is the teachers and staff members. All the teachers do is yell and scream at us and give us 100 homework assignments everyday. Also, the teaching methods are awful. Teachers rarely do hands on things anymore, and science experiments hardly exist anymore, and when we did do one, it was ruined and made boring by pointless quizzes and worksheets after the activity. In my opinion, the best way to teach is by doing hands-on things like experiments and activites where you can actually SEE what happens instead of trying to interpret what a fat textbook says.

The teachers are horrible these days. They yell at you and give you detention for the dumbest things, and then when you don't understand something they yell at you some more. Also, students aren't getting the education they truely need. Many times the teachers just tell you to read the fat textbook and then give you a huge assignment, while they sit there and do whatever.

All educated people are self educated.

Better enlightening the masses should be done by voluntary associations, but public school is preferable to complete ignorance (not that it's impossible to remain ignorant even with a high school diploma).

I attended the public schools for thirteen years, including kindergarten. I am really saddened by the decline of public education. It is rapidly reaching the point of being counterproductive.



The main thing that is lacking is the will to enforce discipline in the schools. When the authorities impose discipline, weed out the troublemakers, and don't put up with politically correct nonsense, the students learn.



So many are hungry for learning. We are not delivering the product as we should.

As a product of the Syracuse City School District, I'm inclined to give public schools two stars, but overall, I think they are beneficial and churn out great people. For elementary, I went to Catholic school; after that, I knew there was only one way to go in the educational system, and that's 'up.'

Sure it has its share of flaws, and its by no means perfect, but compared to the alternative, its very helpful. For every horror story someone can tell, there are thousands of positive stories that get ignored.

As much success as the system has had in reaching young minds and teaching them useful stuff, the system has failed just as many. Equal funding, higher standards for teacher certifications, and parents who give a damn will help things out.

Oh wow, our public schools went down hill for years now and I don't see much changing for the better in the near future. Most of our high schools have to have metal detecters and some even have armed guards in the halls now. It's not so bad in the country and suburbs. Mostly, teachers in the metro areas are scared of the students and most of the students haven't been taught very good manners. It is a big problem these days.

Everyone has the right to be educated. Of course some systems are way better than others!

unless you are well to do and can afford a private school or you are able to home school. public school is an option. even that can be expensive, if you cannot afford to live in a fancy town that is way more costly. I went to public school. and now my own kids have. for the most part there have been good. they have been lucky enough to have some decent teachers and unfortunately some rotten ones. but you can get some lousy teachers in private schools too. sadly things have changed. back when I went to school in the 60s and 70s there was much more strict rules. you would have been in bigger trouble for giving a teacher problems. now kids can get away with a lot of crap because no one dares do anything to get them to mind or you risk getting accused of child abuse. and some of those rotten little creeps need some discipline.with our two kids we have had good and bad experiences. the middle school in our town is horrible. bad attitudes from the staff who want the parents to stay away and shut their mouths. yet we are expected to cooperate in every way they demand.I wish we could afford to live out of the city but just never worked out. I would really give city public schools about a 3.5. it would have been higher but middle school experiences brought it way down.

Mixed bag- but they serve their function- to pass your kids so that you (the parent) don't complain or blame the teachers or the 'system' as to why your kid didn't do the work. . .If parents really wanted schools to educate kids they would allow schools to hold kids accountable for work. Kids enter college with the lower levels of literacy and skill sets now than ten or twenty years ago.

Public Schools could be much more beneficial,but funding has been cut and many of them are not run well.One of the worst things is "Success for All": a program that forces teachers to read from a script instead of teaching.Teachers I know call it "Stress for Everyone".The best Education comes when good teachers are paid adequately and are kept to high standards-NOT when they are forced to adhere to some silly standards dreamt up by "efficiency experts" or some such parasites with NO experience in real classroom situations.It's kind of like letting a bunch of politicians plan a War,Hmmm.....

Public schools offer free education and a lot more easy access than parents who can't afford to send their child to private schools. Although the standards in a private school education are sufficiently higher it depends on the individual as not all children from a private school background are guaranteed a secure future in edcuation, opportunity yes security no.

The school system is necesary, but unfortunately the schools are run by bureaucrats more hellbent on enforcing draconian type rules, rather than true educators.

Extremely helpful, responsible for our current (precarious) stance among industrialized nations. But, if you think this education is free, you're not a taxpayer.

There are places where the public school system does not work as well as it should, but providing a free education to our children is a great thing for our society to do. I think schools constantly need to be evaluated to ensure that children are being educated, but providing education to everybody is immensely important.

They did okay with me, but you have to care about learning. They won't teach you squat otherwise.

Our own public school system may have a number of problems and we need to address those. But ask people in Uganda or any other third world country how they feel about it. They would love to have an educational system like ours. All over the world public education has allowed people from the lower ranks of society to better themselves but ensuring that not only the wealthy and powerful have access to knowledge.

Helpful in my opinion. It provides quality education (in my experience, which is limited to AZ and MN) at a low cost to the taxpayer, and at least makes some ground towards providing children with a reasonably equal starting point in life, regardless of the income level of their parents. Isn't that what the land of opportunity should be about?

Hurtful because it provides ... 1. An inferior quality product at an exorbitant price. 2. A break to those who are not financially prepared to raise children.

Well, it might not be top-notch, but it sure beats being WITHOUT it!