My opinion of the biggest problem in schools is the fact that some teachers, though perhaps qualified, are not always the best at their job. To be able to teach is very easy; anyone can teach. However, for your students to be able to learn under your instruction, that is extremely hard. It takes a certain disposition, a certain personality, to be the kind of teacher whose students can learn under them. Sadly, many schools today don't seem to recognize that to be taught and to learn are not always synonomous. I feel as though schools today place a lot more emphasis on rote memorization than should be, and that they don't encourage actually knowing a fact.
             A student can know that an elephant weighs 17000 pounds, but for an educator to make them understand how huge that animal is, that takes a certain skill. There is a difference in a teacher and an educator. A teacher can stand in the front of a room and say that one plus one equals two all they like, but unless they've got a certain skill with teaching, their pupils will not understand. I believe that when a teacher isn't chosen carefully enough, even the brightest children can become dim. In my own experience in school, I've had this problem. Some teachers I've had don't do anything remotely related to teaching. A common scenario in these classes goes something like this: "Hush! Sit down! I've been teaching for twenty nine years, be quiet! Do you want me to suspend you? Be quiet!" Repeat for an hour. As you might imagine, one doesn't learn much but the eighty seven ways a person can say the word "hush!", and that isn't a particularly useful skill in life.
             One thing that can be done to improve schools is to more carefully examine potential teachers. This will serve the dual purpose of making sure the teachers are fit to teach, and it will also improve the performance of students in the school system. Compared with the National average SAT score of 1020, Atlanta Public School's SAT a...