I dunno what to call it so I'll just use a vague term: "the system" these days has these kinds of problem, I've noticed. I'm talking more than just schools and tests here. I notice this in all aspects of life, like, say, buying from Wal-Mart instead of a mom and pop store.

They're set up so that no matter what you're always potentially hurting someone. If you opt out you can potentially hurt teachers and schools. If you stay in... You still hurt them by participating in a system that you don't believe in, and if you believe it's best for your children's educational well-being to opt out, you're obviously hurting them as well.

Maybe that's why we find the trolley problem so compelling: Many choices in our lives in the systems we live in have similar kind of scenarios. The trolley problem is also set up so that it always has one "lesser of two evils" choice that people think we should lean towards, like in this instance the choice of letting the kids stay to help the teachers and schools, which would correspond to killing one dude to save five on the other side of the tracks.

Or not; I dunno. Maybe I'm just being stupid and comparing things that shouldn't be compared.