Oh I agree! There were a handful of students right there with me taking those advanced classes. What I meant about the attitude was that many students were given these great opportunities but decided against them because, in their own words, they were "too hard". However I believe that with a little motivation these students would have done well. I pushed myself, along with help from parents and teachers who took an interest in their students, to succeed. And one of the main points I was trying to make (I don't think it came across clear)--that there are too many schools where these opportunities do not even exist, let alone whether only a handful of students would take advantage of them. And this is where I think that the current system has failed. No Child Left Behind is leaving EVERY child behind.

The evidence from your story further supports this. You and I have had positive influences in our lives because of some teachers who actually wanted to see us succeed. Just having this support drove me greatly as I'm sure it did you. Unfortunately, all the good teachers are leaving because they do not want to put up with the asinine and incredibly backwards demands of NCLB and, in the case of Virginia (and some others), the SOLs. There is an incredible lack of really good teachers in our public schools due to the substandard pay, harsh working environments (some kids today are terrible, some of the stuff I've witnessed), and requirements of the NCLB and SOLs that dictate what they can and can not teach and when these things must be taught. Not to mention the current emphasis on teaching the children today less on how to solve a problem and more on how to take a test. I am nowhere near having kids of my own, but as time goes on this is a topic that I will watch closely. Our future generation depends on it!