<p>Sadly, yes, the public schools in California are abysmal (no quotation marks necessary). The shame is that they didn’t have to be. At least the Southern states which harbor the nations worst schools have the excuse of poverty to fall back on, but that is not true for the wealthy state of California. There isn’t enough sunshine and coastline in the world to excuse that astonishing disconnect in human values. To me, a place which is (or at least was until recently) fabulously rich in money but which sends its children off to spend their days in understaffed, overcrowded, inadequate classrooms is not a place with a great quality of life. If I were a Californian, I would not be defensive about not wanting to see children in my state treated so poorly–I would be on the ramparts fighting for them. Californians who care should be first in line to insist that quality of life should include good education for their children.</p>