A long time since I last posted - American Education

I just recently had a current affairs interview. It went quite...ok. So-so (It's to be graded.)
Anyway i decided to study more about the topic that me and register no. 1 (because I am register no. 2), which happens to be David, talked about.

Our topic: Why American Teachers are failing our students.

Many people think that American students are failing their studies because of they and their parents are not putting in enough effort. Although this should, in my opinion, be attributed to the teachers who teach them. In the US., there is a Teacher's Union. Although this Union serves a certain purpose, there is a problem. In fact, there are many problems.
Firstly the teachers get too much freedom and protection from the Union (they claim to be serving the society). When they do something wrong, or that when they are a bad influence to the students (for example, the teacher keeps pornography materials/drugs (cocaine, etc) in the classroom). Secondly the to fire teachers in the US require more money to fire the teachers than hire them. They chase away the potentially good teachers, and keep those lousy teachers. They also pay the teachers based on their seniority. This goes against meritocracy and democracy.
The Union also deploys the teachers in a way that senior teachers (potentially lousy) to teach the low-income/students who live in poverty or minority race students. Although not all senior teachers are bad, they are, on average, not as good as the younger teachers.

If you have any points to make on this topic, feel free to comment! ~HM~