The US is among the bottom of list of quality education. This is a published fact, not my opinion. I believe Finland and China top the list.

I'm sorry, but until teachers work full time hours, they will never be respected as having full time jobs. Several times a week, all winter long, there are school delays because of the snow and bus safety. That seems reasonable, but what about all those hours that children are not taught? They don't have to make it up, they fall behind. Then there's a week off at Christmas, another for spring break, then 3 months off in the summer - our education system needs a complete overhall. This is no longer an agrarian society, in fact most children in this country have never even touched a cow, let alone have to take the summer off to haul in hay. This archaiac education system is the reason we are falling behind in math and science and major changes need to be made. School should be year around, like it is in other countries.

Admit it, you became a teacher so you could have the summer off, not 2 or 3 weeks off like most other professions. As a matter of fact, most teachers I know have additional summer jobs, that's how much they have to work on their lesson plans..and don't start with the whining about continuing education. Every professional needs to keep up their skills to remain relevant or they get fired. What if the only language I know is COBOL? I wouldn't last very long.