Those stories mirror my own experiences with school and teachers. I, too, had to take on teaching math and, more surprisingly, how to actually approach the challenge of learning.

Yet, somehow, at the block parties, dinner parties, BBQs, picnics, and across the back fence I could always count on people to complain about how badly this or that person or couple was at parenting. Rarely did I hear people complain about schools or teachers except in the most egregious failures.