Yeah yeah one person can make a difference. Angry dissaffected failures will turn their TV attractive lives around because of a 10 minute talk from a guy who shares zero of their cultural upbringing. The System is rotten. Gotchya.

Here's an idea - demand excellence. Demand performance. Demand it or they cut you loose. I grew up in a system that actually paid attention to achievement and excellence and didn't take the best and the brightest and throw them away until the worst performers met some arbitrary standard. I learned in a competitive system that rewarded challenges and divided up people into what they were capable, willing, patient and motivated to do. And if the top of the heap wasn't for you, then the next level and so on. And people who really did belong learning to fix toasters fixed toasters because self sufficiency really is noble.

Instead what we do is idolize mediocrity because we think it places fewer demands on OUR OWN ethics. We can't look someone in the eye and tell them "You're probably not God's unique snowflake but there are other options. Maybe liberal baccalaureate academics isn't for you, Lord knows THIS isn't." We can't do that. We just slowly drag a few people up and drag everyone else down and call it a 'model'. It's disgraceful. And worse it's idiocy. And even if there weren't these stupid benchmark tests that represent nothing at all, all your schools would busily invent "math for dancers" and other self esteem through failure curricula. But hey, we patted them all on the head and told them to reach for the stars. So we've got that.

Hey. SR. Before you slam *The Wire* as preachy bullshit, try watching it.

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best thing that's ever been produced for television. True to life, but with the intensity of a carefully made thing, *The Wire* is a brilliant achievement. As Richard Strauss said of the Vienna Philharmonic "All praise is revealed as understatement.." ..this is true of *The Wire* as well.

I have no argument with the tenor of your post, just with your backhand to *The Wire.* Watch it, then slam it..but watch it first.

Labelling the Wire as "Educational TV" is bound to ruffle a couple feathers. For my part, it immediately puts me off it, cause I've never been a fan of anything educational.

But I can honestly say that this show is the most consistently excellent on television right now.

Personally, I love the fact that it doesn't spoon-feed you anything. There are some cliched ideas there (the dirty cop, the corruption of politicians, the ex-con with the heart of gold, etc.) but the language and complexity of the storylines is so rich, so solid, so full - you just can't help but get hooked.

Personally, I have to remain so focused to watch the Wire, cause the dialogue is so unfamiliar (both the cops and drug dealers' slang) and is delivered so quickly, that I can't multitask at all while I watch.

I love this show.

Indeed, The Wire is probably the best drama series ever produced for television, and by far. I could never figure out why I had never seen anything in the media about it, instead of the never-ending reviews of escapist tedium like the Sopranos or Deadwood. It's pretty much the only show I've seen that actually feels like real life. The plots, the dialogue, the acting - everything is spot-on, realistic, topical, and captivating. For someone like me who had given up on TV as an unredeemable purveyor of worthless pabulum, The Wire is a last ray of hope.

Great article from James Hynes, but please, please, please, don't title articles about "The Wire" as "Educational TV." It leads people who haven't seen or watched much of the show (like the first poster to reply here) to think the show is "preachy" and didactic, which doesn't describe "The Wire" at all.

How about an article on "The Wire" titled "Shootouts! Showdowns! Face-Slashings! Female Nail-Gun Killers! Mayoral Sex Scandals Exposed!" If people realized "The Wire" wasn't just some civics lesson, but is, instead, an often funny, exciting show that has about a million great characters (and a complex soap opera appeal) they might actually watch.

. . . james hynes and 'the wire.' i can't pass up the opportunity to throw a little love to mr. hynes. i stumbled onto 'publish and perish' almost 10 years ago and have greatly admired the wit and intelligence of his novels ever since.

i think it says a lot about the quality of 'the wire' that many of its episodes are being written by the likes of richard price ('clockers,' 'freedomland') and dennis lehane ('mystic river') and that it is earning the praise and support of novelists like hynes. a literary novelist encouraging people to watch TV! normally, i'd consider this a sign of the looming apocalypse. but 'the wire' is about the only TV show i've ever come across that offers the same pleasures and rewards of reading a good novel.

i'm especially touched by the storyline hynes discusses here because i have friends like the 'Prez' character working in public middle- and high schools in Florida who, due to tragic and borderline-criminal underfunding, are up against nearly impossible odds in their efforts, made all the more insurmountable by NCLB and the moronic FCAT (Florida's version of the standardized test depicted in 'the wire'). the most depressing part about this idiotic, counterintuitive, and purely political travesty is that school funding and teacher pay are dependent on standardized test scores. teachers are already among the most unappreciated, underpaid, and disrespected public servants, and these standardized tests rob them of one of the few real benefits of their jobs--the opportunity to be creative and teach creativity. it also accelerates the process whereby an idealistic young teacher evolves into a jaded burnout who either quits and moves on or just continues to show up, take roll, go through the FCAT motions, and spend the rest of the year letting the kids sleep or watch TV while watching the clock until it rolls around to 2.15 and counting the days until summer vacation.

i read in one of the recent obits for ann richards that she once said the toughest job she ever had was being a public school middle teacher. as 'the wire' amply demonstrates, that job isn't getting any easier.