I want to take an example for how I look at the funding side of this:

When Steemit gets big enough, advertisers will be incentivized to participate. They won't be able to simple post ads...well, they could, but they likely won't be beneficial to the community and end up getting flagged and hurting their reputation.

What they would do is invest a part of their marketing budget into Steem Power, then encourage people on the platform to create a positive vibe around their brand. They do this anytime they are mentioned or tagged, and the content therein is positive, productive, and quality enough for them to upvote.

This is one of the best advertising models I've ever seen. It connects the business directly with the customer, and financially incentivizes them and others to genuinely love their products. They build a growing community of life-long fans, and the positive ripple effects and implications on others off the platform can't be overstated as well.

When looking at eduation, I see the same thing. Schools would allocate a part of their budget towards Steem Power. They'd follow a similar pattern fostering the most positive activity possible. Over time, as the project grows, more or less could be invested or re-invested into the project, however the school or educators see fit.

As far as children signing up to Steemit, I agree, that's where we start to run into potential conflicts. This is why I view alternate platforms that work off the Steem blockchain as an essential ingredient in making this all work as efficiently as possible.

There can and will be many different education hubs on the Steem blockchain if this idea really takes off. All sorts of different models, but in the meantime, we have a great chance to experiment with these ideas here, particularly with older, high school or college aged kids.

Keep us posted if you end up getting some assignments up here as @missjessica and I can be your delegated Steem Power and you can DM me on Twitter and tell me how you would vote :)