Most of my conversations related to education are with fellow educators. I spend a lot of time communicating in online communities, reading blogs, and forwarding emails - but it seems like my circle includes mostly fellow MSTA members from across the state, or teachers in Southeast Missouri or my school district.

When I visit with anyone outside of the education community, it's either with people from church or family. In those cases, conversation usually focuses on church or family issues (unless, of course, the person is also a teacher, which is often the case).

So you see, I realized this morning that I don't often get an outsider's perspective on education issues. What does an average Missouri citizen think about the state of our education system? What improvements do they think we need to tackle? Where do they feel we fall short as educators, or as school districts? What is the number one education problem?

Comments are definitely welcome!