“It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It's a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life.”

Children are very poorly prepared for the real world. They come out of school irresponsible, naieve, unskilled and lazy. It's a fantasy world where there are no winners and no losers and everything is "fair". What absolute hogwash.

Nothing but learning WHAT happens? The after school TV, police state and other government / statist theocracy support systems established to enforce what was 'learned' in school are equally scary.

Looking back on school, I think that the kids who "played hookey" were the smart ones.

Should the context change from mandatory schooling to skills training and certification, 'education' will take on a new meaning. Considering how much the government spends per student on education, the populace should be geniuses. Or rather, give the money to the student and four years of high school would pay for a 3 bedroom house. Not a bad start for embarking on a career.