[wintertime]

Sadly, not only do we spent billions on a Prussian-model system of education that we do not know works, parents burden themselves with high mortgages and long commutes seeking so-called “good” schools.

There are NO studies proving whether or not so-called “good” schools are good or not. These so-called “good” schools may have high test scores due to the considerable afterschooling done by the parents and the child himself IN THE HOME. Afterschooling has **never** be measured!

It is staggering to think of the market distortion, the misapplication of billions of dollars, the environmental destruction, the waste of time and creativity spent in long traveling distance to work, and the overall exhaustion of parents in an attempt to find “good” schools that may not be “good” or effective in any manner. It could be that these so-called “good” schools are merely sending home a curriculum and the parents and children are doing an outstanding job of afterschooling. .

[mason-dixon]

I want to emphasize your observation that academic success depends on the effort by the student to learn.
Several times in my K-12 schooling, I realized that I already knew the lesson being taught, so I just paged ahead in the book and self-taught.

I didn't this was unusual at the time. I was the oldest of 5 children and was expected to be responsible, so mom could pay more attention to the younger ones. When I was in elementary school, I was in classrooms of 60+ students, so I expected the teacher to pay attention to the ones who were having trouble learning, not to me.