It's ironic, the things that were taught to me that I either really didn't care about at the time or hated doing, I find myself in a profession needing to know just that. For me it was English and writing. Not only did I hate doing it, but i wasn't too great at it. Because i wasn't willing to learn, resulting from no interest, I can't say I've learned much of anything. I just bought a relatively inexpensive ebook however, $5, and have already learned a great deal, most of it I know was never taught in school. Were those 12 years of tax-payer-funded english classes worth all of my time and effort? How did I just learn with 5 of my own dollars, what years of rambling that probably cost others hundreds and thousands couldn't compare to? Maybe it's because government doesn't understand incentives? Perhaps forcing kids to do something they clearly have no interest in, does not benefit them in any way, and it certainly isn't benefiting the taxpayer. Ironically also, is the fact that a few months ago I was forced to read 1984. There's actually 2 elements of irony here, see if you can spot both. First one to spot both gets some green reps because that shows you understand what I'm talking about.
Incentives are important. What's the incentive for a school to perform if someone will give them more money to suck? I like John Stossel's solution in the "Stupid in America" special on 20/20.