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Harriette,
Sounds like you are just the person to build that bridge to the 16th century!

When I was in grade-school, the fear that our teacher may spank us for misbehaving (not to mention the spanking you'd get at home too), was enough to keep us from being a completely unruly bunch. Sure, there was the occasional clown who got in trouble, but they were few and far-between.

When my family moved to Greensboro, and I was in high school, things changed. Corporal punishment wasn't allowed. Kids didn't seem to respect authority as much. By the time I was a senior, class time consisted mainly of one clown after another acting up, usually wasting the entire period.

Now we have "No Child Left Behind" so that problem kids must stay in the classroom, disrupting those who really do want to learn (especially kids with learning disabilities). Couple that with teaching to a test (which is very different than kids learning and understanding) and it's no wonder kids today can't do something simple like count change back to you (without a calculator). If wanting kids to behave, so the majority can learn is taking us back to the 16th century, then sign me up for some tights, ruff, and lace.

DD your logic is almost cultist when you really think about it. For all your "progressiveness," you can't even make a solid logical argument as to why the practices used in today's public school system are better that those of the past that actually worked! You merely throw out insults to anyone who opposes your school of thought. So here's a challenge for you: come up with a solid logical argument (citing sources and data other than "test" scores), without throwing insults as to why your way is better. My guess is, you probably can't do it.

Which prayer should we put into the schools? Something from the Koran? A nice Buddhist prayer perhaps? Or maybe a few Hail Marys?

Seriously though, you realize that if a new superintendent tried to mandate prayer in our public schools, we would be at risk of fighting a costly lawsuit at taxpayer expense? School mandated prayer was found unconstitutional a long time ago. However, students have always been - and still are - free to pray on their own at school. Prayer has never really left our schools.

Bishop,
Today's children are not like the Beav, Wally, and you! Today we have issues you could not have dreamed about in the "old days". From crack cocaine, gangs, white supremacists, to pregnant students, it is not the same world. If you think bringing back the "Dunce Cap" would change things, then it is you who has their head up their posterior.

Waxing sentimental is not a solution to today's problems. It is a simpleton's way of trying to be relevant.
Yes, NCLB is a crock put upon us in the form of an unfunded mandate. Testing has replaced teaching, and then there are those who do nothing but cast stones at public education, ignoring the many successes that are occurring. These are problems that did not exist years ago.
The answers are not as simple as pretending that all was well during the Beaver Cleaver days---remember that at that same time, white policemen were turning water hoses on black citizens who were protesting peacefully. Remember that women were treated as second class citizens---I could go on, but it is futile to argue with one who can't get past ...THE PAST!

DD,

I didn't think you could make a logical argument for your ideals, and you proved me right. All you can do is mention the problems kids face today, put words in my mouth (dunce cap? I never said that.), and then you turn this into a race issue (of course if you look at statistics more white children receive corporal punishment in states that allow it than do blacks). Yet, you don't mention any real solutions that work. Way to prove your full of nothing but hot air.