Today's Ramirez cartoon with a yellow education bus and the driver complaining of Teacher Unions, was alot more pointed than Ramirez intended. The stranded. wheel-less bus propped up on bricks accurately depicts the American education system but the problems go way beyond the role of the unions. Low teacher status, poor pay and working conditions, minimal academic standards, lack of adequate government support over the years, all contribute to a failing education system. The university drop out rate gives you the true picture of our high school system. It could also be said that our current political woes are a reflection of a poorly educated population which appears unable to grasp the idea of how to fight a pandemic and who can be so easily manipulated by the lies and distortions of people who seek only to profit from their ignorance. A better education system might have saved some of the 800,000 Americans we have lost and might help preserve our democracy which is presently under threat. As we all hopefully understand, the survival of democracy depends on education. (ex-teacher: UK, Singapore, US, Japan)