The teachers are frustrated. Football is the main narrative at school compared to acedemic performance. Teachers are underpaid, overworked professionals who serve a largely uncommitted clientele more interested in football than in learning. Whereas Permian boasted seven National Merit Scholars in the 1970's, 1988 saw only one. While many blame the academic drop on integration and the rapid influx of Hispanics into the community, others blame the decline in the oil market. Either way, teachers are stuck between blaming the kids for not caring at all and blaming themselves for not caring enough.