also.
jeff : your style of education : however badly needed and/or yearned for by those of our ... "sort" is about as reality-based as .. well... about as much as these here grey dots exist...



notice how they may SEEM to be there (ie> your proposition of a individual based public schooling system may SEEM to be the best possible answer) I have learned that upon closer inspection : them grey dots are only a figment of my perception (ie> what you propose is utterly insane).

why? why insane? why are idealistic thoughts always insane? well... a couple of reasons :

1. it would require teachers to care about what they teach, how they teach, and the manner in which they teach it. these things cannot be done because of :

1a. over-crowding. public school ( particularly this area ) is jam-packed full of students : a high school class generally has aproximately 20-25 students. More students = less thought .. i believe this has been scientifically proven and you yourself have stated it.

1b. "the standard" i know there is a better word for this : but basically it is "how can you say you've met a requirement when there are no requirments to be met?" ... case in point : "HOW TO SHARPEN A PENCIL" ... if the answer they were looking for was "use a pencil sharpener" then a standardized test would be the best way to go. But they just DONT HAVE TIME in public schools to allow that much individuality to where a teacher : instead of sticking a test through a machine : to go through aproximately 30 students and checking to see if 1) a student's train of logic works, and 2) if it is coherant and 3) if the proposed solution WORKS. Knowing ANYONE of us who posts on this board : we'd come up with Rube Goldbergish manners in which to do the simplest things that yes, DO show train of logic, IS coherant, and DOES work. but they just dont have time.

1c. too much power for the teacher. the teacher : given discussions : could stray debates into regions previously untouched by public education and sure, it make make them LEARN : but there is a trick to knowledge : hitting the RIGHT BUTTONS leads one to nothing but MORE QUESTIONS. High school, public education, and education in general doesn't like that. Education to them is something you, quite literally, "buy". You fork the money, you do the time, and you KNOW THE ANSWERS. NO "if and or buts" about it. Education isn't about the broadening of one's mind and/or learning of new activities or even the gain of knowledge. It's about proving and showing that you have the skills needed for (Job A) and why you are qualified to be there. Education is what you stick on a piece of paper to say "I can do what I do." You're mistaken in believing EDUCATION promotes INTELLIGENCE. this, i have learned.

1d. "Incentive" and/or "Willpower" and/or "Umph" ... in public school not everyone enjoys reading. Not everyone enjoys learning. Not everyone enjoys knowledge and the pursuit of such. It is public therefore maintained and derived for everyone : in short : everyone gets what everyone wants. we live in a society where the "majority" of people are druggies, fucking dumbasses, and/or people who haven't a thinking neuron in their head -- unless it's about music and "what sucks" - people who think are the minority and therefore, unfortunately, slip through the cracks of general/public education and -do- deserve more ( this is what some lady came up with "gifted education" came to the conclusion of... heh. )

i just lost track of everything as steak here is done.
i will stop this : and proceed to eat my dead beef.

good day.
:)