[meroes]

My own experience is I went to an amazingly pre school. Like teachers invite students and their families for dinner at their own house, let kids do what they wanted during free time unless and until they actually did something bad. That freedom and trust created an environment where I taught myself how to ride bikes during preschool recesses. No teacher came running out to tell me the right way, they just watched. And they just had real bikes for preschoolers to use at their own comfort freely accessible. Needless to say by the time I got the first grade I had a hard time adapting.

I have no idea if the less restrained model works long term, I suspect not when society is so intermixed and rigid. I joined the STEM Pipeline (introduced by the NSF in the 1970s and continues to this day) like so many others.