My colleagues have given you very good, insightful answers.

Here are a couple more answers from someone with many years of experience and on the verge of retirement. This will be my final year of teaching.

Has the quality of public education really gone downhill since I was a kid, or is that a myth? No! We teach more content and more difficult content at a much earlier age now. Many kindergarteners can read --- I don't remember reading until first grade. Same with math. Algebra, geometry, etc. have all been incorporated into elementary math and have been moved up a year or two in middle school.

Have kids gotten harder to teach? Yes, there are far more behavioral problems that interfere with teaching the rest of the class. I never heard of ADD, ADHD, ODD, and myriad other disabilities until maybe the 1980s. Every other kid has an IEP or a behavior contract, or something similar. I wonder what happened to everyday "normal" kids.

Are parents working too hard to help their kids, or to notice if they're failing, let alone get involved with the PTA or pay attention to school board elections? No, not enough. The outstanding students have very involved parents. The problem kids have absentee or disinterested parents. It is impossible to get any cooperation (such as returning a phone call) from some of them. I think some of them just give up.

Are class sizes too big? YES.

Are populations more diverse? Sure, but so is the country overall.

In inflation-adjusted dollars, are we spending less per child than we were 50 years ago? No idea.

What factors are actually different now from when they were back when public education was strong (at least, it was strong at my school when I was growing up)? What are the causes of those changes, if any? There is an organized assault on teachers and public education by the republicans and their ilk.

Where is the union, what role has it played? How are union leaders selected? Our union is very involved and well-organized (in PA). There is virtually no union representation in most states though, particularly in red states. We elect our officers and we still have payroll deduction for dues. Political donations are VOLUNTARY, contrary to RW talking points.

Because this would go over like a lead balloon in GD: Today is Flag Day.

Because this is the Lounge: Let's eat!

Thanks for the reminder to spray.

We have had a lot of rain this month, but it is still cool here (PA). I fought the blight a couple of years ago when it was brought in on Bonnie plants. That was so miserable and the tomatoes were pretty much tasteless.

I started growing my own after that, but didn't do so this year. Hope it isn't too late to spray.

You will feel better after surgery.

Not the same, but I am recuperating from a broken femur. I don't know if you will get a cast or a rod. I have a titanium rod in my leg and the recovery was surprisingly fast. I had almost NO pain after surgery. Physical therapy helped me a lot, too!

When I was in the hospital, I was across from a woman with a broken shoulder. She was there a couple of days and then went to rehab. I also did a week in rehab.... lots of excellent PT there, but the rest of it sucked.

Best of luck to you. I hope you have a quick and pain-free recovery. Let us know how it went, OK?

My old elementary and high schools are both long gone.

The elementary school is now an ugly asphalt playground complete with graffiti. I don't know what is at the high school site.

We walked to elementary school and went home for lunch. I can still remember the names of my teachers!

My old elementary school:

A very cool tattoo:

Is anyone watching the Tony Awards?

Wonderful music and production numbers! I'm in heaven!

Good for NY. You are learning from other states' mistakes.

I am in PA and the landowners pretty much rolled over for them. Everyone thought they were going to get a windfall from the oil companies. HA. Not necessarily so.

I've seen way too many articles about ruined land, streams, and poisoned livestock. One farmer found a strange lock on his OWN gate to his own land. He couldn't even get access to his pasture. The frackers have all the rights and once the landowner signs, his rights end. And the payouts have been mere pittances considering all the damage and inconvenience. We are still holding out..... and holding our breath.

I know very little about it... but wouldn't the state have to declare eminent domain?

We have refused twice to sign permission for geological (vibrations or echo?) testing under our land. I don't know if they can do it without our permission, but so far they haven't bothered us. We are also the only ones in our section who refused to sign a lease. I told them to quit asking and they did.... so far.

I am going to post that in my classroom.

Actually, it should be in EVERY classroom.