[ScottyS]

1) This is funny, because I attended a symposium on Home Schooling today. The basis of Home Schooling, for the most part, is obviously the fact that both the consequences and products of government schooling do NOT work for everyone, and SHOULD not be forced on everyone. It has been 30 years since the start of the Home Schooling revolution, and the stats support the claims straight up.

2) I know I have said this before here: anybody can go to college and get a degree, regardless of income or (lack of) family aid. I am living proof - I started with working as a mid-teen with most of the money going to the family general fund while supporting my room and board (which means I started in the negative), and managed to get a 4-year science degree debt-free with NO scholarships, government aid, and paying my own bills along the way. It was called work, and anybody can do it - hell if I was a recognized minority it would have been even easier. People in ANY walk of life have the opportunity to learn as much as they want. It's all about priorities, and where they want to spend their time. If someone made a bunch of bad decisions early in life, it will be that much harder to get back to square one, and THAT IS ON THEM. I made the choices I did, including rejecting paths to more immediate income and instant gratification, in favor of WORKING MY WAY THROUGH SCHOOL. Not only did that give me a tremendous amount of experience, but it also made me a better manager. I am sick and tired of people whining that this can't be done.

3) College degrees are pretty much literally handed out by the state schools to those who can pay and show up for classes. I have very little respect for the quality of education that goes into a 4-year degree, and even many graduate programs. I think I have worked with and supervised enough of the products of this system over the last 8 years to evaluate this in a reasonable manner. Most of the problem is that the state schools are revenue-driven, and student evaluations of faculty are highly influential in the annual review process.

4) Any form of education (public, private) will give you as much as you want to put into it.....especially in these days of nearly-free access to all sorts of information and tools, there is literally no excuse for not applying yourself in High School. If you want to talk more government intervention: rather than requiring (or giving for free) 2 years of higher education, we would better off as a society if we had 2 years of compulsory military service or compulsory work (starting with physical labor). Our kids are too busy learning how to be leeches and dependent rather than individual productive citizens.