Hey kleinbl00,

Insightful stuff. One of your statements brought me to several questions based on my experiences as parent, homeowner, and educator.

You wrote:

THE SHITTIER PROBLEM: Shitty schools are the #1 annihilator of property values. As mentioned before, we've tied our education system to our shelter and a great neighborhood near a shitty school quickly becomes a shitty neighborhood.

My Questions:

    Are "shitty" schools the annihilator of property values?  Or, are the relatively "shittier" schools just a reflection of the socio-economics of the surrounding neighborhoods?   Where is it that schools all-of-a-sudden go downhill and drag the property values with them?   

     As I’ve known it, people shopping for homes look at the neighborhood schools as an indicator of the health of the neighborhood.  If your schools are performing, then you must have neighbors with the money and time, therefore the ability to emphasize, a good education for their progeny.  

     I've got a feeling that if we can come up with the true-to-life answers to all of these questions, we may be able to fairly assess our problems with American Education and actually resolve to level the playing field of our educational system.