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"This is an M-60 Echo 3 machine gun, during this course you will learn its nomenclature, uses, troubleshooting when a stoppage occurs, and finally a little bit of the theory behind the design of the weapon." That is the essence of how the United States Marine Corps teaches. Not theory or what makes a better learner. Nope, simple and straight forward teaching. The key of course is having the subject matter available for students to see and interact with to facilitate learning.

That is the problem with how most School Districts and Universities prepare people to become classroom teachers. Tons of time spent on theory and esoteric subject matter instead of the nuts and bolts of what helps teachers teach. I spent 4 years at one of the finest teacher colleges in the nation only to find that theory and rhetoric about teaching was the subject matter. Not practical things like how to keep a grade book, what kind of paperwork you must keep track off for special needs students, how to build a good web page, and other practical simple things that first year teachers really need.

Education is often the ugly step-child of government. Roads and public utilities are fundamental so politicians pay attention to that, prisons get money because the inmates have time to study law and then apply it to improve their stay in an institution, yet, education is usually dead last. Funding is often limited the higher up you go. At the local level property taxes are used to fund schools. People often throw a hissy fit about that as if someone else should pay to educate the young in their communities. States kick in money but often that money is only adequate to maintain the status quo and certainly not enough to provide supplies or technology. Finally, our federal government which has jammed 'No Child Left Behind' down our collective throats while paying about 2% of a district's budget. In some cases more wealthy districts have told the feds to keep their money and their ideas about education. Bottom line: schools barely have enough money to keep the lights on.

Another problem is the messed up way that schools are funded. Superintendents and administrators make very large salaries which means lots of money is spent on people who don't actually teach. They monitor teachers and 'run' schools in terms of curriculum, scheduling, daily administration. Is the money well spent? Well it depends, even if the administrator is a good one that is still lots of money that does not directly

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