Where is Superman?

Quotes from Waiting for Superman, telling the sorry state of US pubic education:

'Why is it that I have a choice of seven different kinds of peanut butter, not even counting the organic brands, and yet kids in my neighborhood don't even have the choice of a single great public school?'

'If in fact we could just eliminate the bottom 6-10% of our teachers and replace them with an average teacher, we could bring the average US student up to the level of Finland, which is at the top of the world today.'

Public education is an example of where market incentives have been misplaced and where the public, more than the politicians, should take leadership into rectifying.

Politics has always(?) been for short-term gains and for securing votes. Education, the effects of which, is measured after generations, will not be an attractive issue for politicians to tackle, much less risk their hides for, unless the public thinking is so.

The public should know that they are the bigger stakeholder in this issue and the least thing they can do is to make it known to their public servants that their vote will depend on how the latter improve public education and be accountable for it.