The scores are out.  Not the football scores.  Not the baseball scores.  The scores in the education competition "Race to the Top".  The Washington Post shares with readers on what criteria states will be evaluated.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan presents the scores with the hope that innovation and ingenuity will follow. As states determine their level of participation, the classroom teachers keep on keeping on.  While the 4.35 billion dollars the federal government has stock piled to fund this program collects dust, the students in our local schools are going without.  Some kids are going without necessities like adequate food and shelter.  Some are going without helpful tools like computer access.  All the while, our leaders are devising a game.  A very expensive game. Maybe the easiest solution to this problem, which by the way is higher test scores, bottomline, is to offer the students a direct share in the 4.35 billion.  Can you imagine the motivation if students were told that they would get a specified amount of money for improving their scores?  But is this what we really want to teach our students?  Education is not a game.  It can be fun, but it is not a game.  Education is not a job that requires monetary reimbursement.  Students need to be taught the intrinsic value of education and you can't do that if you see it as a game.