I think you missed the point of Tilly's post, Renay.

To quote: "There are some kids out there that just don't care how well they do on a test."

Tilly was talking specifically about those kids who don't care, and stating that she can only do so much for students like that.

I don't see where she even brought up the tragic cases you discuss in your post.

But let me ask you this. If we all accept that some kids come to school with emotional baggage from abuse, poverty, what have you - and we expect the teachers to take care of these kids too - don't they deserve the money? It's not like all they do is stand and deliver data all day. They all have to deal with kids who's priorities lie far away from the classroom.

I challenge any of you to do that on a daily basis.