Is School a Jail Sentence?

We’ve all heard ideas like the one being expressed here, though this one sounds extreme.  Jail sentence?  Education is exclusively an exercise in pounding in bad habits?

What’s the outcome for students in the very worst of our schools that make no attempt whatsoever to help its pupils learn to think critically?  Well, their kids learn to:

• Read and write
• Do math, at least through algebra
• Understand some level of history and geography
• Make friends and get along with others
• Establish independence from the parents
• Gain the qualifications for employment

What’s the alternative? Illiteracy? Social isolation? Child labor? Poverty?  Neurotic sloth? Being a burden on society?

Is it a coincidence that the countries with the best educated children are the happiest, sanest and most productive nations on the planet?