My daughter is in college now. Just finished her first year. We home schooled her instead of public high school. She just turned 18 about a month before she finished her first year.
It is pathetic that she had to show other second year students how to do the chemistry. They often asked where she learned it. She replied in high school chemistry. Just shows how pathetic public school really is.
Really they start so far behind students from 20 years ago when I went. What was expected back then is now second year. That is what we based her education on was the requirements from when my wife and I entered college.
Now that my kids are in high school, I can really understand home schooling. I always understood wanting a good environment for the kids, but assumed the time would be too great for my wife and myself. Ours is a good high school in a good area, with good families and kids (which is why we moved to the area we live in) but I have seen, even here, in a 7-hour school day, the amount of time wasted is just amazing. Useless time like assembly, gym, or health. The teacher must spend time with all the students, smart or stupid, and spend time on discipline. Silly union work-rules and bureaucracy are another HUGE waste of time. For example, my daughter's AP Euro History teacher has been out 1/2 the year with pregnancy and illness, so the school has given the class a parade of useless substitutes. My daughter's class is far behind where they should be in preparation for the AP exam, and there is nothing administration can/will do about it, so we signed her up for an on-line course with an, energetic young teacher who sits across the country. Our daughter says she has learned more in 5 sessions than she has in 5 months in class.
In sum, I estimate the total, actual "learning" time is about 1.5 hours out of the 7 hours they are in the building.
Not only is top-down, centralized public school a bad environment, its a massive waste of time. I realize, especially with the internet, there are so many more options and communities out there. The entire system should be blown-up and re-created. Our leftist/progressive government of course is going the opposite direction, and will only make it worse as it seeks to centralize political control.