Public school art education in the United States has been around for over 125 years. Professional art education associations of one kind or another have been with us for at least 100 years. The National Art Education Association has provided information and support to art teachers for many decades, but the truth is that most public school art teachers battle constantly for recognition, adequate funding, adequate classroom and storage space, and support--often without success. This author, a member of NAEA for 48 years, expresses his view that the overwhelming preponderance of negative attitudes about art education from people outside the profession is being ignored. He states that it is way past time to get our "heads out of the sand." The sand is much deeper these days because of increasingly diverse student and parent populations, and major repercussions from the 9/11 tragedy. These two factors are not the focus of this material but weigh heavily on art teachers and art programs. Presented in this paper are comments from two retired elementary art teachers to support this point of view. A conclusion contains insights regarding potential directions for developing positive attitudes and relationships. (Contains 2 notes.)