No amount of technology in the classroom will improve public schools until principals can fire bad teachers

http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2007/02/steve_jobs_on_t.html

The only way to get schools truly competitive is with vouchers tied to the student. That way entrepreneurs can create high quality schools, and "mom and dad" can send their child (and the money tied to him/her) to the best school available. The poor quality schools run out of students and go bankrupt, just like capitalism is supposed to work. Another benefit of vouchers is diversity in schools. It's not just being able to send your kid to the best school, but the best school that is right for their kid. Also, I find it amazing that my college education cost me less that the state paid for my high school years.

Tenure is a great idea with flawed execution. You can teach for what, 3-5 years, and then it basically takes an act of Congress to get you removed from your spot. Tenure was designed to protect teachers, but it also allows terrible teachers to stay teaching until retirement. Teachers' unions being overly powerful leaves me mystified as to why teachers are so consistently underpaid. The only thing the teaching profession has going for it is the security.