To be fair, the cost of living in Chicago is high, and some of their gripes are legit (e.g., lack of air conditioning in a room full of rambunctious 6-year-olds) but yeah, this is awful. My wife is* a public school teacher, and even she thinks this is awful. Then again, she lives by the "It's all about what's best for the kids" motto about as strictly as anyone could.

And yeah, education reform is in order, and charter school experimentation should be a part of this process. But I think we need to stop over-obsessing on standardized testing (and the concomitant pedagogical necessity to "teach to the test" and demand lots of rote memorization), and look at what Finland's been doing over the last few decades, i.e., focusing on the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills that help one negotiate todays career-oriented (as opposed to "job"-oriented) economy.

*Or, well, was. She just got laid-off due to savage cuts to public education in our state. All teachers with less than four years of experience got axed (layoffs determined by seniority; we sure wish we could get that $700+ we gave the union back). Gym, art and music classes may be eliminated entirely, at least temporarily.