Education is complex, slow, and demands teamwork. This is what educators need to be able to explain and what the public needs to understand. This is not getting across in the headlines. It is the author's experience that we have at least three categories of wrong ideas and half truths circulating around education: assumptions that mislead, solutions that don't solve, blame that has no end. This article contains 18 basic messages for educators to get across to the public. They are put in words that can be used as is or as starter points for discussion.