[eucyclos]

Since you said you're genuinely curious - the answer to your first question is no. I'm grateful for what diversity and creativity does exist - and I recognize that even with public schools in the mix, it's more than what existed for most of human history. But public schools have certainly been a retarding force in the generally positive developments we've seen since my grandfathers' time.

Incidentally, they're only a little bit older than that, so we shouldn't pretend they're some deeply tested social technology.