Gotta quibble a bit, Dave. You'd be amazed at the number of schools that have had to cut their music and arts programs within recent years (decades) because of lack of funding. Which raises the question: when a substantial number of kids graduate from high school not only not able to name their own state capital or not sure who the current Secretary of State is, but also unable to locate their own butts with an anatomy book and both hands . . . where is whatever funding there is going?

When she was in her early teens, my niece, who was educated in Canada, could name all fifty states in the United States and their capitals. Most kids educated in the U. S. probably couldn't name more than two or three Canadian provinces, if even that many. And where's Canada? "Uh--well--like--somewhere north of here--I think."

Don Firth