Originally Posted by Relentless

Teachers do not help very smart people or very stupid people. I had a few bad teachers along the way in my education, as I am sure you did during yours. When I had a bad teacher, I taught myself the topic and ignored class time other than for taking exams. I had access to all the information I needed, I had good parents and others I could ask if I got stumped and so on. I'll never forget once when I had a horrible biology teacher, I asked my father if I he could get me switched into another teacher's class and he told me one day when I was older I'd have a stupid employer or a stupid customer and its better I learn how to deal with that effectively at an early age than wait until it actually mattered to figure it out.

The bright kids hardly need teachers at all. The idiots won't learn more than the basics with all the teachers and tutors you can find. However, most people are neither very bright nor stupid. Most people benefit tremendously from having good teachers, low ratios, and access to tutors or mentors. Having ordinary kids in bad neighborhoods surrounded by good teachers all day is vital because many cant rely on parents if they get stumped, many have nothing constructive to do after school without quality programs staffed by quality instructors.

As a case of simple math... Teachers and music classes or sports after school cost much less than prisons and guards after kids fail.

The bright kid in the worst school or the idiot in the best school will do the same with more or less teachers. The ordinary kid, which is most people, will do much better in life with more teachers and better schools. That costs you and I less in the long run. Also, you mention computers...you do know roughly half of all homes in the US still do not have a computer or broadband Internet access and many schools have many less computers than students, right?

Your son and nephews may be hard workers, may be educated, may be bright enough and supported enough not to rely on teachers. That does not make them typical.