Some good ideas have been floated in this discussion, accompanied by some not-so-good ones, but I have to take issue with one of them in particular that I fear might otherwise fly under the radar: The idea that it would be a good idea for us to adopt the model of some other countries, in which children are tracked into a particular educational and career path as early as 8th grade. One of the benefits of the US model is that "late bloomers"—and there are many, I was one myself—can emerge from our system and be successful. It's well known that individuals' brains mature at widely different rates; putting someone on a specific path simply because their brain hadn't matured enough by age 13 to pass a particular battery of tests seems a rather horrible waste of human potential and capital.