Let's face it, American kids are generally lazy and poorly-disciplined and this is the primary reason that our schools suck. We always want to blame the teacher

Let's face it, American kids are generally lazy and poorly-disciplined and this is the primary reason that our schools suck. We always want to blame the teachers, teacher unions, school administration when we really have to blame ourselves. Even much better teachers and organized schools won't be able to educate kids who don't want to learn. Subjects like math, science, and English aren't "boring." American kids are just too lazy to put in the work to appreciate them. The real gap in American education is an "effort gap." I attended a lower-middle income Southern California high school with a primarily caucasian and latino student population. Neither group of students cared that much about school and test scores showed it. We did have a great sports teams. The city over the hill, Rowland Heights, had a primarily Asian student population. They had great scores, graduation rates, etc. However, their football team sucked. The asian parents pushed their kids hard to learn. The parents of students at my high school only pushed them on the sports field and not in the classroom. Pedagogy, class size, quality of teachers, testing/not testing - these things are all important but miniscule in impact when compared to actual student effort. I think charter schools do well in large part to the fact that they attract kids who care. Their success will diminish once you include kids who don't. Instead of asking "Why Johnny can't read," we should be asking "Why Johnny doesn't get off his ass and study."