While the nation gnashes its teeth waiting for Superman to visit failing schools we may be doing a more grave disservice to the kids who seem to be succeeding.

Seldom do the words aimlessness or empathy appear in school mission statements. They should.

When desperate teenagers hang themselves or jump off bridges there's more than enough blame to pass around.

As the head of a school, I occasionally deal with student matters where Constitutional rights are invoked as a defense. Sometimes I invite them to do a little research on rights of secondary school students.

Religion aside, children should not be required to utter pledges and oaths of any kind. Uncritical declarations of loyalty, to country or to God are anti-educational.

All the hot rhetoric over educational achievement is nonsense. The problem in America is a dangerous class divide, not a crisis in teaching and learning.