WE'LL HAVE BETTER CLASSES WHEN WE HAVE A BETTER CLASS OF PARENTS. Joanne Jacobs links to Dave Barry on back-to-school. Sample: "I teach math to eighth-grade students. This is an unnecessary task because they are all going to be professional basketball players, professional NASCAR race-car drivers, professional bass fisher people, or marine biologists who will never need to actually use math." Somebody has to break the unrealistic expectations.