I am tired of people bashing the education profession.  Your comment about students graduating from high school who can't read, write or add is WRONG!! Students cannot receive an academic diploma in Tennessee unless they pass standardized tests.  Have you heard of No Child Left Behind? Elementary & Secondary Education have been forced to teaching test preparation to avoid the targetting threats of NCLB.  And, if a school is targetted due to low tests scores,  it is given a timeline to correct it but NO FUNDS for the supportive services and materials needed to meet those standards.  The original version of NCLB had the funds to provide this but that was tossed after 9-11 when Education took a 48% cut in its total budget.  My school has teachers and administrators coming early and staying late and giving up their planning periods to tutor students so they can pass these standardized tests.   

The Education System is also expected to meet predetermined dropout and graduation rates with no support there either.  I work in a high school in its fourth year of being targetted.  We have 950 students and if more than 2 students drop out, we did not meet the standard.  We do everything possible to meet the needs of our students, but our school has absolutely no control over what happens in the home.  For example if a student we have thoroughly prepared does not do well on tests because an alcoholic parent kept him up all night, we're to bear the responsibility for his poor performance. 

Please just don't be so quick in the future to blame educators.  We're doing the very best we can in a steep uphill climb.

What I am tired of is all this emphasis on education, like it's sooooooooooo important. 

In my opinion, it's just jumping through hoops.  You don't NEED to go to school to be smart and there are more ways to be smart than through textbooks.  I don't think it's up to the government to force children to go to school, especially if it's so miserable for a lot of them.

OMG! What planet did you come from?  LOL...it's just a guess, but I'm betting you're not valedictorian of your senior class! You can label it "jumping through hoops" or whatever you wish to call it but bottom line: 84% of the population needs 12 years + at least one year beyond a high school education to obtain a secure and well-paying position in the world of work!

*sigh*

This is getting too political, and obviously, I have revolutionary ideas about education, but while I don't believe our school systems are completely useless (teaching basic skills like math, reading, writting), I think they are way overrated.  Eventually, it all becomes busy work, and the kids become bored and uninterested, at least from my experience.  Plus, I think the School heads act as if they have so much power.  It needs to be changed to teach more usefull things (like economics) and less fluff.  And maybe there are some good schools out there that don't bombard students with busy work, but from my experience, no.

And back to the topic, the government should not discriminate against people collecting lottery prizes.  Sure, they should pay their debts, but don't make it unreasonably impossible for them to find relief outside of welfare.