So, what's the vicious circle and irony that Conservatives don't understand? There are a lot of things that school districts, school administrators and teachers do to bring the negativity from the community upon themselves. Much of it self induced.
The vicious circle is the fact that if they had received a decent education somewhere along the line, they would respect or appreciate it's merits. They didn't, and here we are..... again.
I'm not sure that the teaching community brings so much negativity on themselves as much as a community as a whole expect the system to raise their kids. Don't know how much "boots on the ground" insight you have from Kalifornia, but I don't think it can be argued that the parents to today are generally less involved and especially take less responsibility for a child's upbringing. "Must be those damn liberal teachers" is what I hear on good ol OSA.