I find it ironic that someone who questions the value of schools has so many grammatical errors in his post. I think you might have answered your own question.

I find it ironic that someone who questions the value of schools has so many grammatical errors in his post. I think you might have answered your own question. If I overlook the irony and just focus on your point, I can sort of agree with you. You're one of the exceptions. I go to a public high school that ranks in the top three of the state. But even though the students here are supposed to be the cream of the crop, more than half of us are idiots. They aren't too dumb to learn, but they do struggle with what people on HN would consider to be basic math concepts. They read slow. They write like 5th graders. They know nothing about computers besides the absolute minimum to get onto YouTube. I think these kids would be even worse off if they didn't continue education after 6th grade. Would they learn algebra if they didn't have to? Would they learn the basics of human anatomy or how chemicals work? I doubt it. Mandatory schooling is (to an extent) useful. We just need to tweak it.