We must do a better job with education. I went to the hospital a few days ago and every doctor that I saw was a foreigner.

We must stress more education. The first thing that we need to do is put away all these video games. Our kids have all these fancy toys, but they don't have time to study.

We must push our children to study harder. If our children study harder, we can reclaim our place among the best of educated countries in the world.

We've been blaming the teachers and everyone but ourselves. We as parents must shoulder some of the blame.

We have some of the smartest kids in the world. We need to get them pointed in the right direction. We must enroll them in trade schools. We must face the fact that without a top-notch education or a good trade school, they will not find a decent job. There are jobs now, but the CEOs are saying that our kids are not qualified to fill them.

Our kids are up against stiff competition from kids from overseas who study harder and take the hardest courses. We need doctors, nurses, teachers, technicians, machinists.

We must be the best that we can be in every field. We must work harder and be able to compete with everyone. We can do this, but we have to work harder.

Robert Kirkland Jr.

O'Fallon