Yes Virginia, There is a Public Education System

I don't get on my soap box often. Well, at least I don't feel like I do. Today is one of those days.
I always think it's interesting when people complain to me about the public education system. They tell me how awful the teachers are and how their children are having a miserable time. Of course, this is interesting to me (and when I say "interesting" please realize I'm using my sarcastic voice) because I teach 5th grade in a public elementary school.
Let me say first that I love my job. I absolutely love it. Every day may not be trimmed in gold, but teaching isn't just an occupation to me. It's who I am, to some degree.
And yes, I know that not all teachers feel the same as I do. And yes, I know there are some teachers who deserve to be stuffed into bags and dropped into an obliging river. However, not all the problems in the public school system are the fault of the teachers.

Let me give you a glimpse of the public education system through my eyes. Every year, more and more responsibility is taken from parents and given to teachers. We have to keep track of whether a child's absences are excused or not. If they get a certain number, we're supposed to contact parents to tell them about the importance of getting their kids to school. If we don't do this, we can get in trouble. Our school can get in trouble with the state.
There is a large amount of information that we are required, by law, to teach. It's called the state core curriculum. It is expected that our students will master all concepts in the core by the end of the year. Every couple of years, they add things to the core, or change it completely.
The legislature of "No Child Left Behind" completely changed the face of education. The principle behind it would seem great: making sure every child is taught and doesn't fall through the cracks in the system. Sounds perfect, right? Unfortunately, in schools it translates as thus: If a child doesn't speak English fluently, or if they have a learning disability, or if they come from a family that doesn't put a priority on education, or if they've just given up, whatever the issues that their poor little souls have to deal with, they are expected to learn everything (in that awesome core curriculum) perfectly.
Isn't that possible, you might ask? Not really. I want all of my students to succeed. I want them to leave my class with all the knowledge they need in order to be successful in 6th grade. But kids don't learn at the same pace. I'm constantly trying to balance spending more time with struggling students, while not boring the students who mastered the concept within the first day of talking about it. There are some students that, even though we might spend a week on a subject, even if I work in small groups with them, even if I have a peer tutor work with them, or if I work one-on-one with them, they will still not retain any of the information. These students are not many, but they are there. I want them to succeed, but if they don't do as well as all the other kids on our end of the year testing, I'm considered a bad teacher.
And I internalize that.
So yeah, I love being a teacher. It is a tough job, where I feel the pressures of not only trying to educate every child regardless of their baggage, but the pressure of helping them become well-adjusted individuals with morals and a good work ethic. And yes, there are things within the system that are inconvenient for parents, but I feel the only reason it has become this way is because the government is constantly shifting more responsibility onto teachers. There are other options: charter schools, freedom schools, private schools, and home-schooling. Each choice comes with its own set of pro's and con's.
So, yes Virginia, there is a public education system. It might not be perfect, but we're trying.

Thus endeth the soap box.