Survey: Respect at school in decline

NBC News reports on a new poll:

Among the biggest drops: respondents' views of the percentage of parents who respect teachers, which has plummeted from 91% to 49%. Students' respect for teachers also dropped, from 79% to 31%.

The findings don't surprise Arnold Fege, president of Public Advocacy for Kids, a Washington, D.C.-based group focused on education and child-advocacy policy. A veteran of many political battles surrounding schools, he has noticed "a lack of respect for public education over the years," whether the issue is testing, teacher evaluations or school choice.

"I think the community really feels that they've lost control of large parts of the institutions that are important to their life," Fege says.

It's time to separate school from state.