Education Secretary wants to hold summits in every state to "save public schools".?

Isn't this a waste of time and taxpayer money considering the fact that American standards are doomed (liberal translation: "don't judge anyone or hurt anyones feelings") ....this summit is doomed?

I am not quite sure how to answer this question appropriately as the public school my daughter goes to is quite excellent. I do not agree with how you see our schools are doomed for failure (your liberal translation).

The quality of public schools in America didn't go from excellent to poor overnight. It took decades to erode and chip away at the foundation which public education was based upon.

budget cut backs
lack of extra cirricular activity
doing away with music, arts, physical education, etc.
lack of accountability (parents, teachers, principals, board members)
mishandling of district monies

I would imagine that public school these days would be quite boring compared to the small country school I went to where the class size was so small that grades were combined. We had more freedom to learn and utilized resources that were made available to us which didn't neccesarily cost money.

Parents were more involved in their children's education then than now, I believe. I personally do not follow the current year's classroom cirriculum, if I feel that I can teach my daughter something NOW, whereas the school will teach that topic in a year or two; well guess what I am doing it NOW. Especially if she expresses interest NOW. Why wait?

I think it takes a combination of both what children learn in school, after school and parents being directly involved. To rely upon public as the sole educator of children is the wrong thing to do. You're putting all your eggs in one basket.

I do think that all schools should teach the same thing everywhere and that the expectations should be risen and not lowered (which is what has happened with No Child Left Behind). Children should be challenged, physically and mentally. And we should expect that children have the ability to rise and meet the challenge no matter how difficult it is.

I think it is more of a waste of tax payer money not to address core issues that have plagued public school for years. Bring back music class, arts and humanities, sports, stronger and well rounded education (The Three R's).

If the student does wrong then send them to detention or the principals office where the student will face consequences for their actions.

What would save public schools is vouchers.

The best thing for public schools would be vouchers. Competition always helps people perform better, I also think getting the unions out of education would be a nice plus.

We need to catch up with the rest of the world.
Stop teaching subjects that have no relevance to education (drugs/sex/morals/ethics) and concentrate on Science, Math, History, Civics, Language skills, and reading. Stop indoctrinating children with the idea there are not any wrong answers. Yes there are!