Mr. Gambee:  You're quite right...we all share ownership of our public schools.  We share the successes and the failures.  Sometimes I think too few successes and too many failures.  I also agree that simply "throwing more money at it" is not the answer.  I also agree that, to a large degree, most people don't really know what "it" is.  We, indeed, need a national, non-partisan conversation regarding education in America.  We need to decide, at all levels of responsibility (national, state and local) just what it is we hope to achieve.....a basic question, so basic it seems simplistic....just what do we hope those twelve or thirteen years in public schools will do for kids?  How will the school experience improve their lives, now and in the future?  Will school make them "better" persons?  What are the schools' responsibilities vis a vis parents?  and a host of associated questions whose answers shold help define how we can better serve our kids.