I was homeschooled until 8th grade, when I was put into public school. Good take. I learned so much more when I was homeschooled. I was a reader, so I could get all of my work done myself in about 4 hours per day. It was great, honestly. I stand by the statement that public school doesn’t teach you how to learn, it teaches you how to follow instructions. I would even go so far as to say that public school killed my love for learning. Out of all my teachers, I had maybe a handful that were passionate about learning. I’m super grateful for my 8th grade English teacher, who did an in-depth unit on the Holocaust and had us meet a survivor. I first heard the “First they came for the socialists…” quote in her class. I don’t think I could have ever been prepared for today if it weren’t for that. My 10th grade English teacher as well, who was a friend and guide in the right direction, despite the fact that I was an antagonistic right-wing little shit. Which leads into your point about peer pressure. My school was 93% white, and the attitude matched. I had racist friends. Hell, I was saying racist shit all the time with absolutely no bearing on what the fuck I was really doing, other than following the lead of my shitheel friends. It’s also hard to avoid getting crushed by the system. I remember one time, somebody said a swear word in the back of my computer class and nobody snitched so the teacher collectively punished us by making us write 100 (completely unrelated to the class) word definitions 3 times each. I complained to the principal, and he chuckled and said, “I’m going to back the teacher.” I won the election for Student Council President in 10th grade against the son of the woman in charge of Student Council, and they literally just ran the whole thing without me. Then, I tried out for the Radio program and didn’t get selected over the leagues of thickly-accented rednecks who read out loud at the speed of one word every 2 seconds. So, I started smoking pot and went back to being homeschooled, also taking classes at the community college. So yeah, you’re pretty spot-on. But you’re also right about the socialization aspect. I would not be at the level of socialization that I am now without just going through the shit in public school. If the system were fixed, public school would be the better option. Right now, the way we educate is primarily the problem. These kids sit around so unstimulated that they’re already trying to numb themselves with drugs. It’s fucking ridiculous. I think that the solution is homeschool co-ops, but even those aren’t perfect. I went to a co-op that was extremely religious and incorporated that into the science lessons, for instance.