"Capt. JG" wrote in message

Well, you may be right, but one has to fight against the tide, else be
drawn along with it.

Agreed. I just don't know how to go about it. Throwing money at the
problem has proved ineffective. More money is probably needed, but a viable
plan should be formulated first.

Not having to have three jobs to make ends meet, so that they actually
have time to spend with the kids.

Very true. It is a major problem with the working poor.

Something being a prime motivator has only a little to do with making it
financially viable for people take on a profession.

Are you contending that teaching is not a financially viable profession?
Most of the teachers I know earn between $50K and $80K for nine months of
work. And their retirement plans are legendary.

I don't think raising teacher salaries can be defined realistically as
throwing money at a problem.

It is if those same teachers are no more effective at higher pay rates than
they are a lower ones.


I think we would all benefit from knowing the answers. However, just
because someone is a single parent does not preclude doing a good job with
one's kids.

Absolutely, but the statistics demonstrate preponderantly that single-parent
families have a substantially higher school drop-out rate than two-parent
families. We need to know why that is the case, but whenever we attempt to
examine the situation, the PC cops put a stop to it, calling it
discrimination. Inner city blacks have a higher drop-out rate, too, but
we're not allowed to examine the etiology of that phenomenon either. It's
really difficult to prescribe remedies to a problem without understanding
the nature of the problem first.

Max