Interesting post by Paul Graham on why nerds are unpopular that then goes on to berate the current school system and states (the OBVIOUS regardless of what people want to believe) that things need to change. I defintely feel some parts of this article especially because I always felt that high school was a complete waste of my time (then again it was). I can only think of all my good tax dollars that go to fund these debacles of schools...

How would you fix the broken system? That's easy enough to answer in the abstract. The problem is that teenage kids have no purpose. So give them a purpose. But how?
I don't think it would work to turn them back into apprentices. Adults in past times didn't have teenagers as apprentices because it made the kids' lives meaningful. They did it because it made economic sense. And it just doesn't anymore. Like mothers, teenagers have been left high and dry by the receding waters of specialization.
The way to deal with problems created by specialization is probably not to resist it, but to use it. Specialization is as pervasive and irresistible as wind. If you want to go in the other direction, tack.
The solution, whatever it turns out to be, may involve substantial changes. We take the current form of school for granted, but it is a fairly recent invention by historical standards. It's not something we should be afraid to tinker with.
Perhaps the answer already exists. There are a lot of schools in the world. Perhaps one has solved this problem. Certainly there are some where the problem is less acute than others.
Within America, one of the most obvious differences between the better and worse schools will be money. But I don't think money is the reason the better schools are better; I think it's that the richer communities respect learning more. If you had given my high school twice as much money, it wouldn't have changed a thing. It was not because books were too expensive that they worshipped football.
Whatever the solution is, nothing is likely to happen till adults realize there is a problem. The adults who may realize this first are the ones who were themselves nerds in school. Do you want your kids to be as unhappy in eighth grade as you were? I wouldn't. Well, then, is there anything we can do to fix things? Almost certainly. There is nothing inevitable about the current system. It has come about mostly by default.
Adults, though, are busy. Showing up for school plays is one thing. Taking on the educational bureaucracy is another. Perhaps a few will have the energy to try to change things. I suspect the hardest part is realizing that you can.i>