I concur that we got school wrong by creating an environment where play, creativity, and any natural interest in learning are forcefully shut down. I recently r

I concur that we got school wrong by creating an environment where play, creativity, and any natural interest in learning are forcefully shut down. I recently read an HN post about how kindergarten recess had been canceled in deference to directed instruction. Instead of making kindergarten more "serious" like upper grades we should probably be doing the reverse and making upper grades more fun and creative, with active breaks during the day. Nonetheless, many skills - from playing piano to solving math problems - seem to be learned through focused practice. Students who feel railroaded by lock-step learning should take heart (to some extent) knowing that it eventually gets much better, since creativity and self-direction are extremely valuable in higher education and in the "real" world. But it is a shame that it takes so long to get to that point of freedom.