Schools ought to be preparing children to be responsible & effective members of society in more ways than just being good workers, agreed; also agreed that the public schools do an increasingly bad job in both areas. Which is why so many kids wind up doing the remedial classes in community colleges or (worse) the four-year schools.

Of course, after spending three years getting my ticket punched so I can be a teacher, I'm not surprised schools do such a crappy job. We take fairly average people, train them how to use screwdrivers, send them out to pound nails, and wonder why the roofs on the houses leak like crazy.