Just read an article in the Economist about America's economy is on the mend. That's good news, but they mention that America's public schools are bogged down by heavy handed unions. The author must not be informed as the reason unions appear to be powerful. Just look at the history of abuse workers have had to endure in the past because of greedy and selfish management. Our country does not value teachers like Finland or Singapore does. These countries see educators as the builders of their countries and they treat them well. Those countries also just happen to have the highest test scores. We draw most of our teachers from the bottom 30% of the university graduates, the aforementioned countries draw from the top 20%.  Do you think there is a correlation between good working conditions, respect and good pay and job performance? Finland, Singapore and Canada would agree to that. Wake up America!