You are mistaken - most school districts are maintaining the number days and hours per day for schools. Many of them are increasing that requirement. There are a few that are reducing that requirement, mostly due to financial constraints.

Deferred maintenance - Read American School and University. Biggest problem facing physical facilities - lack of money for needed maintenance. Schools built in the 1950s and 1960s were not built to last, only to accommodate the burgeoning population. School districts were trying to take the cheapest route possible at that time and did not practice life-cycle costing.

Growing school districts which have a small tax base face this problem. Lack of teachers for schools in high poverty or high crime areas. Poor administrative planning. There are a number of reasons. These are the exceptions rather than the rule. The National Center for Educational Statistics will answer most of your questions concerning class sizes.

I agree, the arts are being passed over in favor of "academics" because of No Child Left Behind. Blame George Bush and Ted Kennedy for that one. I do.

Is this question directed to the higher education institutes or elementary and secondary education institutes? The biggest problem with science education in elementary and secondary education is the complete lack of emphasis in primary grades. Follow that up with the poor teaching that exists for science in elementary school and you have complete lack of interest. Also, science education is the most expensive academic area to teach if done properly with labs and equipment for experiments.

At the post-secondary level, you are correct about the foreign students. Most of the advanced science students in graduate school come from India, China, Japan, and Korea.

I won't argue that one bit. I taught mathematics for 15 years at the high school and college level. I, too, wish I had been paid like a doctor. But, simple economics prevents that. That is also why a number of highly qualified people who would like to teach do not go into the field. It is hard to come out of college with a BS in physics and go into teaching for $35,000 a year when IBM offers an introductory salary of $80,000 with promises of raises over the next 3 years. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

With that being said, you are correct- education is a national security issue and believe me when I say that thousands of people at all levels of education take that very seriously. This is not something that will be fixed overnight. Many people say dump it and start over. Right, I have ocean front property for sale in North Dakota, too. What are you going to replace it with? Private school? Vouchers? Privatize education? Do the research, don't read 2 articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer that says the Edison Schools are wonderful. Vouchers in Milwaukee work to a certain extent. What they don't tell you to often are the other problems that are not being addressed.