Why our public school system is eroded...

I was at my folks' house recently. Great and generous and civic-minded people. My dad, in particular, looks that the world with a skeptical eye (something I've inherited a little of) and is the first to notice when things aren't consistent. On this visit, he pulled out a recent copy of the Living Section of the Oregonian. A big article on the front page devoted many column inches and pictures to "Picture Day" at a local middle school. "Look at this," he said. "This should just leap out at people." And I think he's right. His point was that schools are struggling to meet curriculum requirements, cover expenses, and get enough face time with students. So having a day devoted to taking photos for entirely social purposes seemed out of whack.
I had seen the headline and had a different perspective. As a parent of children recently and currently in local schools, I am appalled at the money racket that picture taking represents. The school provides a setting and legitimacy for profitmaking photography companies to come in and sell 'packages' to parents and children. We had school pictures thirty years ago too, but they were a more pro-forma activity to record students' presence as part of the student body. I shudder to think of how hard it is for parents who don't have the money and whose children feel completely left out because all their friends are getting the special package deal with 50 wallet size pictures and an 11 x14 in a gold frame for Grandma.

Neither of these elements help to stir enthusiasm for the school system in a skeptical body politic.