>that's simply because that's how they are treated. Bingo! By forcing kids to go to school through 18 where they make basically NO choices that affect their li

>that's simply because that's how they are treated. Bingo! By forcing kids to go to school through 18 where they make basically NO choices that affect their lives, are taught things that more than half the time the teachers can't even tell them why they need to know them ("for college" isn't a real answer, either) -- all of this treats them like infants. Even infants manage learn to speak and walk without being "taught" a thing. Forcing kids to go through a lock-step learning regimen just teaches them that their desires aren't important, and they end up rebelling. If you look at kids from Sudbury schools [1], or kids who have been (competently) "Unschooled" [2], they typically seem to be mature for their age, polite, and reasonably well-spoken. By respecting the kids and giving them freedom at a young age, they act more mature. See also Paul Graham's essay on "Nerds" [3], where he talks about (among other things) the completely artificial environment that is the broken schooling paradigm in the US, and in much of the world. >In my opinion by 15 or 16 people should already be expected to act like adults. If you treat them that way, for real, then they will. But that includes not forcing them into the stupidly artificial and even actively damaging [4]. Someday I want to fix this problem. If I end up involved in a start-up, fixing education -- REALLY fixing it, not just doing "more of the same" and calling that an improvement -- will be at the core. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_school https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_school [2] http://sandradodd.com/unschooling http://sandradodd.com/unschooling -- briefly, the kids are allowed to learn what they want. This is NOT just "neglect the kids;" it requires active parent involvement. [3] http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html [4] http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3d.htm http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3d.htm -- see the note about dyslexia