I don't think anyone is suggesting that we engage in a Lord of the Flies situation where the children are in charge. Rather, that children participate in a help

I don't think anyone is suggesting that we engage in a Lord of the Flies situation where the children are in charge. Rather, that children participate in a helpful way as a part of their own growth. If an 8-year-old is helping a 6-year-old with math, then they are both learning, and the teacher is spending a lot less time watching either of them. I think what we're seeing here is a general problem with outsourcing: you try to come up with a clean separation of responsibilities, but you end up with a costly mistake instead. In this case, thinking of all children as customers that are served by your employees, it would make a lot more sense to make it a collaborative effort between expert caregivers/teachers and students of various ages.