> So everybody goes to the same schools with the same curriculum with the same baseline opportunities.
I went to a Jesuit high school, and, due to this, had far better advantages and outcomes than anyone else in the same socioeconomic background as myself. I didn't get here on any merit of my own and didn't really pay attention prior to high-school, I just became a step-son to someone willing to spend the money.
Even if you want to talk about public schools, you can't say that everyone is on the same footing due to a host of reasons: poorer neighborhoods tend to have higher rates of lead in their paint which negatively affects people in various ways; better teachers will self-select for "safer" or "better" areas; or children might go to school and be unable to pay for lunch, thus harming their education. The notion of same baselines opportunities is unfounded. Similar curriculums, as well, aren't true: AP classes, dual-enrollment in local colleges, &c. are all enhancements to the baseline curriculum.
> It's not optimized for individual success at all.
You presuppose that a school system should optimize for individual success, but I'm not convinced that optimizing for a more cohesive, civically-minded, and educated population wouldn't produce better outcomes. This hyper-focus on individuals seems to be tearing society at the seams--by not imagining ourselves as a part of a community, only as individual agents, our conception of nation and society crumbles. Your idea of education seems that it would only exacerbate the collapse of community.
I went to a Jesuit high school, and, due to this, had far better advantages and outcomes than anyone else in the same socioeconomic background as myself. I didn't get here on any merit of my own and didn't really pay attention prior to high-school, I just became a step-son to someone willing to spend the money.
Even if you want to talk about public schools, you can't say that everyone is on the same footing due to a host of reasons: poorer neighborhoods tend to have higher rates of lead in their paint which negatively affects people in various ways; better teachers will self-select for "safer" or "better" areas; or children might go to school and be unable to pay for lunch, thus harming their education. The notion of same baselines opportunities is unfounded. Similar curriculums, as well, aren't true: AP classes, dual-enrollment in local colleges, &c. are all enhancements to the baseline curriculum.
> It's not optimized for individual success at all.
You presuppose that a school system should optimize for individual success, but I'm not convinced that optimizing for a more cohesive, civically-minded, and educated population wouldn't produce better outcomes. This hyper-focus on individuals seems to be tearing society at the seams--by not imagining ourselves as a part of a community, only as individual agents, our conception of nation and society crumbles. Your idea of education seems that it would only exacerbate the collapse of community.