The only thing I can do with a jungle gym is fall out of one and sprain an ankle. My kid sister, on the other hand, took a look at the abysmal excuse for the rec area/parking lot in her San Francisco elementary school,and decided that her kids and their friends deserved a play space that was more than the oil covered asphalt between the teachers' cars.

I don't know how she did it, but in 8 weeks this past summer, my sister, Patricia, found a discounted playground complex through an organization called KaBoom!, got a corporate sponsor, Washington Mutual, collected matching funds from some parents and local businesses, gathered about 150 volunteers and borrowed jackhammers, shovels, wheelbarrows. The school board, the city permit office and the garden club - a group which met to complain to each other about the lack of public money for a garden - balked at every step. Each of the blockers had "reasons" why it couldn't happen, even though it was, clearly, happening.

In exasperation, Patricia contacted every too busy vacationing member of the school board and threatened to take the energy she used for this project and devote it to ousting them. She nodded at the "garden club" then went ahead and put in donated pretty, drought resistant plants the garden club said couldn't be found. My sister's combination of will, organization and faith got something done in a very short time.

I have other siblings, all of which argue that the reason to send their children to private, Catholic schools is for the discipline, the parental involvement and the moral authority. I suspect that it's none of those things, that it's these parents' belief that their children are safer if held fast in the fantasy that the public sphere is dangerous. Outside, as in a public school, is dangerous to these parents, not because their children will be harmed, but because a wider view, a view that's different from theirs is threatening.

Going public means being out there and doing something. It means not leaving moral education to moral authorities, but finding moral value in social interaction. Family values are constructed in a social context, so redesigning that social context means rewriting those bureaucratic contracts so they do something useful.

Having your mom build a playground for you shows a pretty spectacular moral commitment to family values. As a side effect, she created a community of parents who now know that things can get done. Calling out the school board for being invested in process rather than projects will have continuing effects. Patricia built a playground and changed the world.

I was laughing like a loon--went through all this in DC. We went to the private schools even though we knew we could not afford them--I sat next to Judy Woodruff in the waiting room of Georgetown Day. Like my kid was getting in! She was wait listed (means nada) at a school where an older African American man in a waiter's jacket was setting the tables for lunch for these little tots. I couldn't see it. Finally, she ended up in a DC kindergarten--I moved to get her in that school. That lasted 5 yrs--they didn't teach multiplication tables--that's arithmetic, not math, we were told. Then she went to parochial school--which cost. When it came time for Junior High, I was scared of the nearby school and moved to AZ, where she immediately leapt into a bad crowd and became the ringleader. I toughed it, I loved it, I didn't love it--at 26 she is still here, unemployed, hated all school so much she would not even consider collitch, and now has legal issues. So...school is just the beginning, folks--but take your best shot! You may look back on private school interviews as the high point of your parenting experience.

I doubt 85% of all Americans need more than 8th grade education. 60% can get by with a 6th grade education. So let's dial back the requirement, end mandatory education at age 13 and split them into vocational and, if they wish, academic tracks. Save your money.

Actually, I do not think the voucher system is the way to go either and I don't dismiss the need for public education. I do however, dismiss the notion that the federal government can do anything but harm the system, like it has for years.

We need a new system funded by private donations and corporate financing with the ending of the property tax upon the citizens to fund education. The system would be run by a private not-for profit organization, overseen by each state gov't with no federal interference. When I say overseen, I mean the organization being overseen to ensure fair practices, but not the education overseen. Is this simplistic? Of course, as an undertaking like this would be a huge endeavor, but if we care about education, it is worth it.

But in reality, I think it is best left up to the individual states anyway. If California wants public education, continue with it, but without the aid of the federal government and the entire nation's money, because schools have come down to money and government power over the minds of our children. It is no longer about education but money and who can get the most.

There are great public education establishments and there are lousy private ones and this wouldn't change unfortunately. What would change is the increase in privately held scholastic institutions, more closely held to the beliefs of its students and parents committed to an educational experience that would look after the future of its students. The great schools would continue and the dumpy ones would lose students, forcing it to either sell out or re-manage its approach.

I don't have all the answers by any means and I think there are thousands of committed parents willing to jump in and fine tune the project. So far, though, I do not see any compelling advantages for the current public education system except that it is "free" and private schools are for "snobs".