Well, I've known a lot of teachers. A lot of them are there becuase it's a job, but most of them really want to teach. They don't care about power. They care about three things- being allowed to teach with political hurdles, getting the parents involved and about the kids. I don't know of a single teacher who was behind No Child Left Behind. They all knew that was going to be the death knell for public education when it was proposed.

The people you are thinking of are the people who force teachers to have certain things in their curriculum (or not to have it), or they get fired/unfunded.

The biggest problem is that to be a teacher, you need to be certified after a long period of academic and hands on education. To be the people who actually decide what get's taught and how much money goes where, you don't have to be a teacher- instead, they are usually CPAs and the like. If you have a school board that is elected, the board members don't even have to have graduated high school (like in my home town) and are answerable to no one other than the clowns who elected them in the first place.

It would be like having the people who design and build a bridge be at the mercy of someone who thinks that wood can be substitued for steel and portland cement for proper concrete, and has the power to force the bridge to be built that way. Anyone who protests s fired, and that is repeated until there is no one left but those who nod and go along, and die hards who are going to make the best bridge out of what they have.

And the worst part is the parents. I agree with you completely that if the parents don't care, it doesn't matter what kind of education the kid gets. I'll agree, I've known a lot of homeschooled kids that were top end people. And as I said, I've seen a lot that weren't. I'm not saying that home schooling doesn't work, I'm saying that if the parents don't have a clue, there's problems. Lots of them.

As for the theological component, that is still the #1 reason why kids are homeschooled in this country. Our own fundamentalists can't be ignored.

As far a lemonaid tasting better, I'd rather have limeaid. :P