What is school for? It's an easy question but people in the USA have different answers. A poll from a teaching group called PDK International asked Americans to name the biggest purpose of school. PDK said 45 per cent of people said the main goal was to prepare students for exams. Around a quarter of people said it was for kids to get a job. Just over 26 per cent of Americans said the biggest reason for school was to teach children about citizenship.

The CEO of PDK said the poll questioned whether schools were doing the right thing. He quoted from an author who said the purpose of school is, "to ask questions of the universe." Students had different ideas about school. Elena Brankov, 15, said it was to teach creativity, ideas sharing and how to use technology. Lyndon Bailey, also 15, said school, "is just to make poor kids into robots who work and make rich people richer".