I'm afraid you might be right, but I'm a public school teacher. I go into work every day excited to fight the good fight with people who have a lot in common with the slashdotters you describe.

It's what I do.

I hear the frustration, and I identify with it. I'm glad you have solved the problem for your daughter. In spite of the Slate article, I don't think you are evil for sending your child to private school. If I had no options for a good public school, I'd probably look at alternatives too.

The problem though isn't completely personal. It's social, which I think was the essence behind the provocative title of the article. It's a social problem because not all of our children have parents like you or me who are willing to look for those alternatives.

It's in our social interest to educate as large a swath of the population as possible. As tragic as it is to say, the vast majority of parents aren't interested in finding the solution. They often send talented boys and girls to school after telling them that school is a waste of time, or more often never mentioning school.

Public school is vitally important because those kids deserve a chance too, and right now, I'll admit, we aren't giving them the best education we can offer. I can tell you that the teachers and administrators are, for the most part, going into work every day wondering how we can make school more meaningful for our students. We lose sleep over the disinterested students, specifically the talented ones. We try to make it interesting and engaging, but we are blowing against a very strong cultural wind that does not originate in the school. It is the collective force of an indulging society. That's the fight we need to fight. That's the change we need to see.

While I realize you are frustrated and have found a great alternative for your child, public school is still an important issue, and I'm saddened to see your energy sidelined because you found a solution for your child. There are other kids out there without parents as caring as you seem to be.

I'm a public school teacher, and I see some of the issues you address above on a regular basis. However, that is not the norm. Teachers do NOT try to create passive cattle. Most teachers work hard to teach students to be independent thinkers, while they go home to households that don't care about their education, don't push their kids to be more than obedient, and don't help find the children the support they need to prosper.

Are there terrible teachers? Yes. Should we fire them? Yes. They are not though the norm. Think of any professional environment and the slackers that do as little as possible. We all have those losers.

We also have to quit thinking of schools as external from our society. We need to see them as a part of a larger whole. We can escape blame that way, but it isn't accurate or beneficial. Do you know who your local school reps are? Have you spoken to them? Have you raised a voice that asks for more accountability or initiative from the students, teachers, and administrators?

Of all political bodies, school boards are the most local and relatively responsive to community input.

We have serious problems with our public schools, but I believe educating our children is essential for a functioning society; it is more so for a democracy. Let's not throw out the system because it has flaws. Let's work together to fix them.

Start locally.

That's such a naive statement, I'd like to actually hear the details. I think you are dramatically oversimplifying a complex issue.

Why is it akin to abuse? I'm not taunting; rather I think this issue is one of the most fundamental to our future, so I'm trying to engage.

Yes. I'm a public school teacher.

First of all, congratulations for starting the club. Too many students sit passively by in high school.

A couple of things that could help. Do you have a dynamic teacher in your building that might be willing to sponsor the club? They can help you with recruitment and ways to keep people interested.

Also, try to have some really clear goals. Can you build an app for students in the building? Can you collect scraps from your IT person, and build some extra computers for the cafeteria for students to use or to give to underprivileged students? Can you find some local places to visit on a field trip or two? As much as I wish as a teacher that students would readily join clubs for their own edification, typically you need to find a "hook" to get them in the door. Once they've built something or seen the glory that is coding, they are going to be more likely to stay in the club. Try to find something they can SEE at the end of the year. Nothing beats seeing the fruits of your labor.

Good luck! If you need more advice or ideas, I could introduce you to some great AP computer science teachers.

WeVideo is awesome for my students. They have short video compositions, and this gives them an intro to visual literacy and composing without having to go through my IT department, which is - understandably? - nervous about installing new programs.

This is a perfect bridge for education where we don't have the resources we need to introduce our students to all the programs they should should at least use once or twice.

they have several iPads per classroom in addition to their 1 PC per classroom

Oh, just rub it in why don't ya?

Actually to be fair, our new CIO is trying to give us more opportunities to get these sorts of things. I'm really speaking to the past policies, so I should give the new guy a chance. Also, I do have two iPads, two Nooks, and four computers in my room, but that's because I begged, borrowed, and stole to get them.

You don't perchance live in the Seattle metropolitan area do you?

Nope. Georgia. I would bet that it won't be long in the future for most school districts. We're getting to the point where it is financially beneficial to get devices for each student.

I'm glad you are looking at solutions other than MS. I certainly recognize the difficulties that arise from having multiple platforms, but especially in large districts, it seems that the cost savings would probably offset the cost of supporting multiple platforms. Can I ask what tools you are using for device management? I'm in a large district with over 10,000 employees and even more students.

You have a point, but it is an important discussion, and the answers are different in different locales. We need some very clear parameters about the way surveillance is used in all jurisdictions.

I'm not one to immediately discount the use of surveillance, but I recognize it could quickly be abused.

Can you imagine the possible abuses of this little gem from a month or two back?

This always makes me angry as a teacher. We NEED these cheaper laptops for our budgets, but our IT people, understandably from my limited perspective, want to keep one system to manage, so we are required to buy from Dell. No cheap laptops in the cafeteria for our students to use. All the desktops are in use in the Media Center? Well, sorry, we can't buy four Nexus tablets, we have to wait to get one more desktop.

We're supposed to get tablets in the next few years for all the students, but those will be Microsoft as well at a much higher price point.

Sigh...