Funk I learnt a lot of things at school that I wouldn`t have been able to learn at home, largely because my teachers all had a really good grasp on what they were teaching, sure I was awfull at languages, music and art but to be perfectly honest I didn`t care then and I don`t care now, others who did care did well in those subjects so it was no lack on the teachers part....
Amongst other things I also learned (profitably) that there are more optimists than realists in poker games and that if someone is bullying a friend facing off at them won`t stop it but beating the living piss out of them will....
In fact I really enjoyed school, apart from being expected to pray and sing hymns everyday and the fact that in 3 years of mandatory religious education all but 1 term was taken up by the cult of the Nazerine carpenter....
Why the hell would I want to trade an experience like that in for home schooling for my kids?
Now Mark what you have to understand is that the education system over here is very different, first off AFAICT kids have to attend the public school in their town unless the parents want to home school or go private and for most people that just isn`t an option, this means that if a school is piss poor the parents can`t vote with their feet and take their kid down the road....
Secondly I have witnessed, heck judged, the shambles that was a "science fair" at the school where my mother in law works, it was enough to make me want to teach any child I have maths and science myself...
To say that half of the kids there did not have a clue would be an insult to people that have in fact got no clue....
The thing is as bad as the system is here I think the answer is to fix it rather than scrap it, lets just call it a different perspective from someone who grew up experiencing a system that does work....