Why is it good for kids to be motivated by the fact that they're paying a lot of money? People should be in school if they're motivated by their desire to learn, or they should just get out and stop diluting the experience for everyone else.

Our society doesn't do a good job of serving kids who just want job training and don't have an academic bent. Right now we lump together the people who want vocational training and a certificate of competency with the people who are passionate and want to learn. This leads to a mixed weird situation where too much irrelevant stuff is "taught"[1] from the perspective of the vocational students, and the course work is largely busy work from the perspective of those who want to learn.

That "Mathematician's Lament" that appeared on here recently is a great exposition on this problem. http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

1. I use the word "taught" loosely here to refer to the process of memorization and regurgitation that is standard in the formal education system.