The Future of America

American teachers guiding America’s youth They hold the key to our future’s door So we pay three and a half times more To the man who pulled your tooth We are America’s students, Our country’s future is in our hands, So our teachers, teach with prudence Except to those who just don’t understand Deemed unwitting and doomed to fail What future is to be held within their hands? We send them unguided down this unsure trail And yet we expect them, still to have a chance Maybe they’ll just work in retail sales Or go join the infantry; hope they don’t get shot, Or maybe get out, do crime; fill up our jails. At least they're not hooked on Oxy or smoking pot At least there's not six hundred fifty k Who’ve grown up, to be without a place to stay At least there's not a whole seven k Who drop outta high school every single day At least out of forty four advanced economies We're not thirty third For percent with post-high school degrees In fact we must be the best country the world can find, Because here, No Child is Left Behind, And Every Student Succeeds Except for those with dysfunctional families We are America’s students, Our country’s future is in our hands, Sometimes we feel like we just can’t do this Its like we’re not in our country’s plans American teachers guiding America’s youth They hold the key to our future’s door They’re the ones that have to fix this mess The solution? Hell, pay them less