Jack Kingston: “As I talk to teachers they are very, very frustrated in two things: No. 1, that they cannot control their own classroom…”

“As I talk to teachers they are very, very frustrated in two things: No. 1, that they cannot control their own classroom anymore because there are so many Federal rules that have been passed down to the State education bureaucracies and then to the local and then to the teacher in the classroom tying her hands up, because sometimes some kids need different things. But one of the results of it, not only is she frustrated with the bureaucracy she works for, but the parents of the students are frustrated, and so they are not involved in the PTA's or the PTO-type organizations, the parent-teacher groups, because they know that they cannot do anything about it. They have a great idea, they get real fired up, they hear about it working somewhere else and rush to tell the teacher, and he or she signs off on it and says it is great; they go to the principal, the principal likes it, they go to the school board and, bam, brick wall. And today the average student, the average 13-year-old, spends 8 hours a week doing homework and 30 hours a week watching TV.”