Since lead was used a long time before the schools started failing, I’d look elsewhere – namely our society’s family structure, the educational system, and, YES, the teachers too.

Most of the problem is that the public has too high an expectation of the teachers – they want a babysitter, socio/economic wrongrighter, no child left behind etc…, and in some cases, still require the piano proficiency to get a liscense.

I do not believe that teachers do an inherently bad job – I DO believe that they are incapable of doing the job they are asked to do – and education is too important to leave to teachers. The government cannot legislate a solution to this, and this TINY factor of lead, when solved, won’t do it either. There is NO quick fix. Until the system is completely levelled and re-started, our system of education will continue to fall way behind other first world countries – and our universities are artificially bouyed by people coming here from abroad to study.

I am sorry you feel persecuted for being a teacher. Honestly I am, because you have the WORST job in the United States today. People expect you to make up for broken families, poor economic conditions, a fatally flawed government system, and -oh- lead paint. At best, you are given tools to give an average student an average education – except nobody is average…

I’d rather just volunteer to help kids survive the conditions they’ve been in and help them get their G.E.D. on an individual basis.

OH, wait, I’ve already been doing that.

My advice: go private or go retrain for another career – unless you are a saint, in which case God bless you, because the system won’t. I’ve personally seen instances when standardized testing mandated a 5% pass rating improvement per each class, with the person’s class having a 100% pass rating already.