Besides, if educators are better than I suggested and as good as you implied, why, in all of my schooling (when I good a GOOD primary education) can I only recall 3 of them as memorable and discard the rest of them as terrible or at best, mediocre)? What is YOUR experience growing up? Everyone I have spoken to about this subject has an experience similar to mine.
Farkel
Well why not explore that notion without bias? Unless you are 150 years old, it probably doesn't have a damn thing to do with Unions.
Why do good teachers need to be memorable? That's like saying all good actors must be stars. Who knows why we remember certain teachers? Teachers today deal with far more daunting conditions than when you were a pup Farkel.
Funding IS an issue, respect for the profession is another. The anti education President Ronald Reagan did not help. Neither has any of the funding legislation that ties funding to test performance. Teachers are so busy teaching to the test, they have little time to know the student and actually teach.
It's a complex issue, and won't be readily resolved with all the partisan rhetoric and snark.