My friends' daughter was encountering bullying and cliques and all that fun middle school stuff to a very concerning extent. So, they pulled her out of public

My friends' daughter was encountering bullying and cliques and all that fun middle school stuff to a very concerning extent. So, they pulled her out of public school and put her into a private program whose name I can't currently remember. There are classes, sure. They also manage a garden, and their own cafeteria. There is a week or two class trip every year -- a trip they are partly responsible for and that actually works well rather than being a horror show. And there is emphasis on social skills. Not some simplistic "zero tolerance" punishment policy, but, well, I guess, real understanding. Anyway, my friends say it is night and day compared to what their daughter was encountering, before. This is in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota -- say, a nearby town. My friends are in construction and health care. They do ok, but are not rolling in cash. But, they made this work for their daughter. I can only think, if I'd had the chance, I would have jumped at it. My school system was far from "bad", in the demographic sense. But their daughter's experience is night and day, compared to mine. Kids should be learning how the real world works. Something families and home circumstances don't always provide. And I see no reason for schools to be prisons of boredom and the lowest common denominator. They should be able to harbor diversity, including but not only academic diversity, just like the real world does. Learning by doing, indeed.