[matwood]

Your long term vision is a good one and one that I have often thought about. Traditional schooling fails many of the practical and soft skills that are so crucial for today. Parents should be teaching these (that's where I learned them), but it doesn't seem to be happening as often as it should. Outside mentors can also help, groups like Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as coaches, etc... would fall into this category.

[Reclix]

You said it: "Parents should be teaching these". But how can we rely on parents to do the right kinds of teaching when there's literally no requirement to becoming a parent? I suspect that one of the things that has held schools back is a hesitation to teach things that technically fall in the domain of parenting, but as more and more studies seem to be showing, parents are often the weakest point of the child's education. I think the educational models of the future will either focus on parental education or bring even more things (like values, for instance) under the umbrella of 'schooling'.