[Valentine_W]

I can see where you are coming from. In many ways, the incentive to educate oneself comes from one's upbringing as a child. It seems that many children who are driven to excell in school do so because of their parents' encouragement or pressure to do so. For me, it is hard to see a group of children strive to learn when education just is not an important value in their family life. Perhaps that is me just being a cynic, but it would be in many ways, unfair to punish teachers for the failures of their students, especially if their classroom does not have the will or incentive to learn.

[NittanyLion]

Yep. It's a theory with which I initially disagreed completely, but I'm beginning to see the merits. Private schools can control what students are allowed in; public schools cannot. Often they're a function of changing demographics as much as anything. If a pharma company relocates its HQ down the street, you may see your scores go way up even if the quality of education goes way down. When industry has closed up and left town, and average income is way down, just the opposite occurs.