Baghdad's recent execution of 40 merchants for exploiting the shortage of food and other goods for profit has resulted in even worse shortages.

The worst shortage was of housing.

But there is an even worse shortage of college-level computer science and engineering teachers.

Lamp-oil was impossible to get and candles were scarce, but the worst shortage was of coal.

The worst shortages are expected in math and science education, areas in which American education are already seriously deficient.

The potential for far worse shortages exists.

The lack of seasoned leaders, the worst shortage in decades, could not have come at a worse time, school officials and education experts say.

"This is the worst shortage that I can remember," said Dr. Orenstein, who has been in his field for more than 25 years.

Even during the worst shortages, her grave, and then those of others, had always been strewn with flowering plants.

The worst shortages are in the cities.