[andrewflnr]

Here's an idea. Make school a low burden, free, for basic math and writing skills, etc. Basically what we have but lower-key. Then let everyone who really cares homeschool or pay for private school. Even if you don't abolish the requirement to go to school, lax requirements for homeschooling would have a similar effect.

Homeschooling is not for everyone, but personally, being homeschooled in high school was one of the best things that ever happened to me, in terms of learning, social interaction and even career opportunities.

[Leftium]

How did homeschooling help you in terms of social interaction? I thought that was one of the arguments against homeschooling.

[andrewflnr]

In short, while homeschooled, most of my socialization was with nice peoeple. Most of my social issues are from the jerks in public school.

We knew a few other families who homeschooled and met weekly; "The Moms" and occasionally Dads talked about parent stuff and the kids, around 20 of us in our heyday, just played whatever. We eventually took martial arts and rock climbing classes together. For the most part they were all pretty nice. They're still the best friends I've ever had.

Besides that, a lot of homeschoolers (like us) are religious, so we have religious gatherings we go to. I know a lot of my homeschool friends' friends from church, too.

My homeschool friends eventually led me to my last couple years of internships, including this summer at Google. It didn't hurt that homeschooling had given me lots of time to concentrate on programming.