Quote Originally Posted by DaBudhaStank
Education should be free, period. The attitude in this country is largely that if you don't go to college immediately out of high school, you will fail and have very little opportunity at a fulfilling life. We put more pressure on kids to go to school than ever before, making it almost the only option in many cases, and yet we make it nearly impossible to go. Insane, arbitrary costs that could easily be covered by the school itself given the proper funding. Anyone who went to a public high school like I did, no matter HOW good, knows it'll never stack up to the shittiest private school. Why? Money, and how no one wants to give it to the public. I've never ever understood the logic; "You better go to college, or else you're pretty much fucked. Oh yeah, by the way, we're cutting your funding by 25% and the cost of our school has risen 5k. Oops."
I went to a public school and I ran circles around the private school kids. That's not a testament to my school by any means; but it is to say that going to a private school doesn't necessarily make you smarter. It starts with the Teacher, and then the student + Parents. If one of those 3 aren't cooperating or working well with each other then the student will underperform unless they have a means to overcome the handicap.

We do need more funding for education but I don't think that's the end all solution for improvement.