So, the issue here is that there is a time and place for "repeat what I've told you" kind of teaching. . . .that's basically the knowledge level.

College came around, and the main reason I could "sleep" through it was that in High School I was expected to create a cohesive thesis and defend it (regardless of subject). It was a rude awakening when I realized that not everyone around me knew this so implicitly.

The working world has an unfair advantage over school in the fact that everything you learn on the job is related to your job. You are not only being fed knowledge, but using it. Moreover, depending on what job you're doing, you may very well be having to analyze knowledge, synthesize and integrate it into an argument for or against a course of action. We learn by doing [Brophy, Bloom].

School is a great place to get knowledge. The problem is, knowledge alone is not learning, and learning alone is not wisdom. . .

I think dyhappy, for better or for worse, is trying to see the wisdom in school. . . and there are a lot of dots to be connected between the two.

 

Minority, but I'm in a school where most of my peers go and drink, smoke, and have sex on the weekends. Now I am by no means a "loser" in my school, just one of the ones with moral standards and an ability to think for myself.

IMHO, it's the parent's, and student's fault, not the education system. Are there some flaws? Yes, and they are working to make it better.