[Rduke55]

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My pre-college years in the school system can best be described as "a colossal waste of time." I remember getting excited in the 2nd grade (after looking ahead in the science book) that we were finally going to learn about atoms, and then being utterly dismayed at discovering over the next nine years that nobody in my school had the slightest clue (beyond the utterly trivial) what scientists actually thought about atoms, or why. It was highschool chemistry before I learned the words "quantum mechanics," and a whole new set of questions could be dismissed with a wave of the hand in favor of emphasis on memorizing the names and correct spelling of the elements (which naturally bored me to death and earned my parents the standard "if only your son would apply himself" speech, as well as recommendations against my requests to take advanced math classes).

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But do you think you were not the typical student? How many pre-high schoolers would you say could really understand the kinds of things you are talking about?

And I'm not disagreeing with you that there are problems with the mentality you are talking about. I'm wondering how to fix that. And please no general "free market will take care of it answers", I think there will be a similar problem there in measuring quality of education and as I said in my previous post. If the free market is better, why specifically in this regard?