What should schools to about the middle and high school students that are are doing abysmally, whether that be because of an extreme lack of motivation or an overall misunderstanding of the information?

I dont know... possibly be less lenient, and more strict?

But in a way, the schools can only do so much for the kids who dont care. When it comes down to it, the parents need to do more.

What is abysmally?

Like an abyss.

compare U.S and China.

Make public education educational.

Where I live those students become alienated by teachers, then they drop out from High School and society recycles them as construction workers and janitors.

Myself, I preferred the old schooling system we had where those people would be offered the chance to enter into profession oriented studies, so they walk out of the Educational System having learned something useful for their lives. Alas, our government seems to prefer unprepared and uneducated workers, as opposed to the rest of Europe.

Nothing.

There's a reason that you have to pay for college and work to get into it or do stuff to get scholarships.

And the people that don't care about school but are secretly brilliant will find a way of surviving on their own.

The problem, Mishy-dear, is that we'd have a whole lot of uneducated people after a while, America would become completely inferior to other world powers, and the standard of living would severely drop. Most kids nowadays would more rather be rockstars and celebrities than doctors and engineers.

I think some kind of overly politically-correct program with a fancy name should be established for these kids, and it should push the f**k out of them intellectually. These programs would have to continue into their homes. This means, fundamentally, that their parents have to turn into their part-time mentors. They don't necessarily have to teach, but they'd attempt to cancel out the distractions in the students' lives. The parents should also be pushed to enter courses to better their families, as most of these low-end students come from low-end surroundings.

If all else fails, brainwash the f**kers.

I think my teachers FKING SUCK!!!!!!! failed a test because my teacher wouldn't let me into tutorials... shouldn't this be in the schools section?

LOOOOL 'nuff said. it's definitely the upbringing and the environment you were raised in. unless they can see the consequences in the future, or the bigger picture, those people aren't going to change.

Well, if everyone was well educated, who would be the janitors? And the workers at Mcdonalds? No offence to those who work there, but nowadays people with a high school diploma or higher would never want to work somewhere like that. The more educated people there are in the world, the more qualified a person is going to have to be for a given job, like Mcdonalds.

Er, very badly.

I'm not quite sure. I don't think there is a whole lot to be done, like Michelle said. Either you care about school or you don't. =/