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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 2038375" data-attributes="member: 99">I agree with you that quality teachers could do nothing but improve the educational situation we find ourselves in.  And I further agree that paying them more can only help attract better applicants.  These are commonly understood "market forces" that apply to most segments of our economy and I'm very much in favor of them.The problem, as I see it, is the state-run, virtual monopoly of our public educational system.  Like any institution of its size it is laden with beurocracy and that beurocracy eats up a tremendous amount of the money that goes toward education in this country.  Furthermore the tenure system makes the firing of a bad teacher who has managed to hang in there for a few years nearly impossible barring some egregious misconduct.If I had the money to send my child to private school then I would do so because I believe there is a greater degree of accountability to be found in a system where they have greater control over the academic environment (by virtue of not having to adhere to the standards set by the state and NEA).  I'm in favor of vouchers as a means of giving me a real choice in how my child is educated.  If that somehow makes me automatically wealthy then I wish somebody would hurry up and send me a big fat check so I don't have to worry about whether we'll be able to pay our bills each month.</blockquote>