The saddest part is that some of the former might be perfectly happy apprenticing for a trade instead -- a chance which has really been destroyed in the last fe

The saddest part is that some of the former might be perfectly happy apprenticing for a trade instead -- a chance which has really been destroyed in the last few decades in some areas. The real issue is that we're trying to forcibly prevent delinquent members of society, just like you force small children to eat their vegetables and go to bed -- because as an adult you have the foresight and ability to delay gratification that they lack -- but it doesn't always work. Where do you draw the line? When do you give up on kids and say "fine, screw it, don't go to school, go eat candy and smoke pot behind the 7-11"? There are the kids who, if you force them to go to school at 14 when they don't feel like it, will grow up and realize that playing videogames for 12 hours a day would have been a bad life decision. Then there are the other 14-year-olds who will fight it until they can drop out and become a chronic plague on the rest of society, no matter what sort or form of education you offered them. The problem is that no one wants to admit the politically incorrect truth that there will always be some children left behind.