/Rant on... To all who say 'this should be obvious', it may be to those familiar with technology. It is NOT obvious to those looking to 'fix' education in public schools. They seek a simple solution to a complex problem that involves family, society, educators and economics. Politicians can NOT fix families, WILL NOT address issues of long term poverty (economic disadvantage), nor will their corporate sponsors allow them to address economic inequality. If you wave a shiny piece of technology around, or scream 'charter school' (Publicly funded, privately operated school), or 'adaptive technology' which 'adapts to the students' needs' that gets attention and money. Teachers have been vilified, degraded, and burned out (me) rather than address the root issues of education. The 'business model du jour' style of educating people continues to be plagued by students who are apathetic, parents who are too busy trying to support a family to be parents, poverty, and in may inner cities, crumbling infrastructures of ancient schools. Perhaps this is not as obvious as Chromebooks or iPads for everyone. They are great tools, aid some forms of instruction, but also make toys of distraction for many students who are already tuned out or far behind in the classroom. Technology helps politicians 'feel better' about 'helping education'. /Rant off...

The Polls belong on the side, so we can see how they change over time as more people 'vote'. If it is not broken, stop trying to 'fix it', and reverse the trend of pointless changes for the sake of change.

Same here. Already using greasemonkey for craigslist and stumbleupon. It actually makes sites useful, and usable!

And why would you assume that the problem is bad teaching? Your vast experience with children leads you to this conclusion. If there is no interest in learning, no consequences for failure or no role models at home or in the community to emulate, you cannot 'force' anyone to learn, no matter how much you may want to. Distractions, that would be politicians and experts trying to educate children like you would build automobiles, and cutting corners at every opportunity. Wake up, if education was a priority, teachers would be paid as well as other professionals, not babysitter wages. Schools would take priority over pork in government funding, and we would not be teaching in 80 year old buildings the are crumbling around us. You have been hoodwinked if you believe the 'problem' is as simple as bad teachers. Yes, there are bad teachers, and good teachers in bad situations working for bad administrators. Again, have you ever spent time in a classroom as an educator, or are you another arm chair expert still revolting against a teacher you hated as a child?

I am a teacher, and former software engineer. Keep blaming teachers for problems in education. The problems in education have nothing to do with parents who don't give a damn, or send their kids to school never having read a book to their children or shared reading with them. The problems in education have nothing to do with students who have no consequences for their actions, and are passed along be administrators who don't want to look bad. The problems have nothing to do with children who come to school for free breakfast and lunch, and carry Ipods and PSPs and the latest cell phones, but not pencils or notebooks. The problems have nothing to do with administrators shoving the latest educational fads down the throats of teachers who must follow the programs, and often even the scripts they must read, to keep their jobs. The problems have nothing to do with classrooms so crowded and disruptive, because public schools must teach EVERY child, no matter how much they act out, how often they cut school or class, or how much they bully, harass or abuse their classmates. After you experts try standing in front of a group of 33 different kids, six times a day, and actually spend time in a classroom, then talk about the lousy teachers who don't give a damn. Most of us actually do care, and try our best, in spite of the lack of resources and support from the communities, the kids and the administrators. Rather than sitting on your asses complaining about the lousy teachers, go volunteer at a school as a tutor, or mentor, or a teacher's aide. Unless you have been responsible for a classroom, you sound like a bunch of jackasses talking about crap you have only read about. You know, when someone tells you how simple it is to design a control system for a Toyota, or an operating system, who has never constructed a running program. It sounds almost that stupid...