It's possible, I guess, but I think the argument is overstated. There was a movement at one point to set up stations, where kids could go around and do different, interesting things, instead of just having one teacher teach by lecturing to the whole class. Is that still true in the early grades?

I think there must be some serious discipline in schools. Otherwise, chaos develops. Teachers, then, have to spend all their time trying to get kids to behave, and they are left with little time to teach.

However, I started to school in 1960, and believe me, our classes were regimented, and kids were required to behave or else they could get paddled. Each teacher had a paddle along with his/her gradebook, etc. I know of no zombies who were created, though. (By the way, when my kids came along, we had to tell the school if we were okay with corporal punishment of them--and I said, "No." Hmm. Well, I knew my kids were decent, anyway.)

I probably would have picked different topics to learn about, if I had a choice, but as a society, I do think we should expect certain topics to be covered. We should have a common data base. And making some topics interesting is difficult. Reading, writing, and arithmetic should still be highly valued, IMHO. As a former college prof, I can tell you I was shocked at how little some kids knew after 12 years in school.

One problem is that we are now expecting schools to do things that parents should be doing--like fostering a sense of discipline and teaching sex education, as two examples. Schools can not do everything, and they should not be expected to. Parents should also be teachers, too--helping to encourage a "love of learning" in their kids! At least my mother took us to the library to get books to read and encouraged us to buy books of our own to read.

In conclusion, I can't say I really can totally agree with this premise.