Time magazine's cover story, for April 17, is about the bored, low-income, or alienated teens of Shelbyville, Indiana who are dropping out (or being pushed out) of public high school. In many ways, it's a piece of writing right out of the educational dark ages. The only reference to private-sector alternative curriculum opportunities had to do with virtual schools, and the author slammed them as the "Wild West of secondary education."
And teens obtaining honest work is discouraged by the powers-that-be: "At the request of a former principal, a local factory promised to stop tempting dropouts with jobs." Incredible.
Update: Mates, Time magazine's South Pacific version has a story about homeschooling's growth in Australia and New Zealand.