An AP story today announced that Republican teachers in the NEA are feeling a little left out. (Could this be news?) Here is the story that I saw in the Lancaster papers:

GOP teachers balk at Obama-centric NEA convention

Why? Why are public school teachers all across the country in favor of President Obama? I think that the best answer that I can give to this is that what we are watching is something like Don Quixote tilting at windmills. This might seem like a strange analogy, but the fact is that nothing that President Obama or all but one man can do change this fact: the public schools as they are presently constituted can not work. It has nothing to do with the efforts of the teachers (some who are friends of mine are excellent teachers...some, it seems to me, are just punching a time clock). It has little to do with standards (which are bad) or bureaucracy (which is terrible--ask any good public school teacher). Under this is a plain economic fact: the system is unsustainable. We can cry about this. We can curse under our breath. We can have rally and put up signs that say that the President is "Our Knight in Shining Armor". All of these things are, in the end, ridiculous and they do not change the facts. The system will crash. Failing to recognize this is like a knight (maybe in shining armor) jousting at a windmill.

There is one Man, however, who could save public education. The deepest problem with the present system is this fact: that Man--Jesus--is the only person alive or dead who is not allowed on campus. Without Him, our standards crumble. Without Him, our children can not have direction and they will not have a lasting reason to pour out their lives for others in love. When they welcome Him back and come to bow the knee to Him and embrace the reality that we must educate our kids better for less money (which is doable!!!), then the education greatness can be restored in out culture. And this would a crucial part of cultural reformation and renewal in our country.