I think that it depends on what level your student is at as to the quality of the education. My oldest is a very "general ed" type of student. He had no interest in school, did just enough to get by. When the cops were called for the 3rd time in his math class at BHS, we transferred him to BCHS. It has made a world of difference. The smaller class size helps and lots of individual attention. My middle son who is in 8th grade is very bright, he's won the prize for the highest Star test score in the school 2 years in a row and has never had a B. I think he would do fine in public school because of the type of classes he would be in, the gate, accelerated or AP. It is a different quality of teacher than the general ed teacher just trying to keep the peace.

Geeez anny/neo..you are SUCH an idiot.  (consider that an honor..I rarely ever call people names...but I'll make an exception in your case.  It soooo fits.)

You fooled me, I would have guessed  Christian schools..But the Tehachapi caves explain what you are about/

I am tha produkt of publik ejukashen...LOL..J/K!! I am a Tehachapi High guy and I think I turned out okay. I managed to scrape my way onto the Honor Roll in my senior year. My oldest went to BHS, and after her miserable attempt at being a rebel, she too was an honor student. School is what you make of it and it goes hand in hand with parental support and supervision. I say the biggest problem with education today is that too many parents just don't bother to see to the boundries of their kids behavior in OR out of school, and they are generally the ones hollering the loudest when their kids don't make the cut. My 13 yr old is grounded as we speak(type?)for a bad progress report. No phone(cell OR home), no computer, no running around, no nothing until I get a decent progress report. As I told my oldest, "bad grades wouldn't piss me off I if you were stupid, but you are just being lazy and irresponsible". 
 I could NEVER be a teacher at any level. I just don't have the patience. I have a family member who teaches at a High School and a very good friend who is now in the Superintendent Of Schools office after having taught and been a Principal. I do not envy them at all, but I am very proud of them. I, too, had one HORRIBLE teacher at THS..Mr. Anderson, my journalism and photography teacher. I think I taught him more than he taught me, but I took his classes because they involved what I thought might become a career. I learned how much you can teach yourself if you want to learn it badly enough. 
 The most awesome teacher I ever had was Cliff Crowe, my creative writing teacher who never graded with letters, but with smiley, neutral and sad faces. If you misspelled one word in an assignment you got a sad face(F). It was an advanced class and his theory was "You have to be an english 'A' student to be here. I expect you to know how to spell" He also told us the first day of class, "I will not go down to your level, I expect you to come up to mine". A lot of people took transfers the first week of that class, but I learned more from him than any other teacher in any area. He also rode a Harley and it was the first one I ever rode!

Except for St Mary's and Notre Dame all professors are kooks, right Marshmello?

marsh, AMEN to your comment about some Professors. Some of them need to just GO AWAY!

You and Nancy are right about some people not being cut out for teaching. I sometimes wonder just how many teachers aren't teaching because of the low pay. That's why I believe that they should DOUBLE Teachers' pay and make them all re-apply for their current jobs. This might pull some REALLY qualified people out of Industry and unload the dead wood. The current Teachers who SHOULD be in the classroom would remain there.

It's true that not all people are cut out to be teachers.  In my mind, it takes a special gift to connect with kids who, for the most part, don't want to be there anyway.

My high school history teacher had to be the worst ever.  He had us open our books and then he read to us from the textbook.  The only memory I have of him personally is a picture of him standing at a podium....reading.  I don't even remember his name.
On the other hand, I had an English teacher, Miss Greene, who asked me to stay after class and wanted to know why I wasn't trying.  She said she knew I had the ability.  After that, my grades improved.  She took the time to talk to me and apparently that made all the difference.

I don't know if there's overcrowding in classrooms or indifference in teachers but is it really any different from times past?
Is there a higher rate of dropouts now as in the past? 

The quality of teacher training is improving, but the conditions under which many teach are poor.  The lack of infastructure, and resistance to national control is as great a culprit as any.  

If you want to see really bad teaching however, look no farther than our university system!  Professors are experts in their fields, but they oftimes make very poor teachers.  

Googolplex, one place which regularly discusses this issue is Bob Soresby's site, http://www.dailyhowler.com.  He's routinely frustrated with the "metrics" issue, especially when a news story touts some revolutionary "back-to-basics" approach but justifies it by fudging the statistics.  Today's column is particularly good, I think.
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My own experience with a local "bad high school" produced two honor students who never gave me any trouble academically or otherwise.  On the other hand, I took Latin in high school, and I doubt one school in a hundred even offers it today.