[diablerouge]

Happy to see a mention of democratic schooling [0]. In my opinion, as someone who not too long ago left the American public school system (but was also 'unschooled' [1] for the early years of my education), so many of the problems that arise in school are due to a lack of self-direction. We teach children to rely exclusively on authority figures for motivation, and then get discipline them when:

1) they don't submit to their teachers and follow directions. 2) they aren't able to direct themselves to complete tasks on their own.

Finally, at least in my experience, teaching students something they aren't interested in or motivated to learn is basically futile. Maybe they learn enough to pass the test, but it's quickly forgotten.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_education [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling