Rethinking Public Education

A clearinghouse post. Some recent critiques of public education from disparate sources:

• The "Real" School Is Not Free - A brief history of the (somewhat sinister) roots of public education in the U.S.
  
  
• 'I'm a Saboteur' - 'Fast Company' interview with John Taylor Gatto from 2000. Brilliant.
  
  
• How the Public School System Crushes Souls - Personal and poignant tale from Steve Olson. No doubt his experiences resonate with untold millions of others.
  
  
• To fix US schools, panel says, start over - Recent headline from the CS Monitor.
  

Of course we need separation of school and state. But might we benefit from a complete overhaul of how we think about education? What if the old model of inculcation, testing, and grading faded away?

What do we have to lose?