An important problem with public education

PalmTree Pundit has a great quote from Gilbert Highet's The Art of Teaching:

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Think how astonished you would be if your doctor told you that personally he really cared nothing about the art of healing, that he never read the medical journals and paid no attention to new treatments for common complaints, that apart from making a living he thought it completely unimportant whether his patients were sick or sound, and that his real interest was mountain-climbing. You would change your doctor. But the young cannot change their teachers -- at least, not until they reach university age, sometimes not even then. They have sometimes to submit to being treated by doctors of the mind, who seem to believe the treatment useless and the patient worthless. No wonder they often distrust education.
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Thinking back over my K-12 experience there were clearly a several teachers who didn't really care. One of the big problems with government schools is it is almost impossible to get rid of bad teachers. They just keep drawing paychecks, and the children keep suffering.

I'm sure the vast majority, if not all, homeschool parents care about education, and their children know that education is important.


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