Insightful (and funny)

Thanks for this. I have to agree. I was very lucky — I was homeschooled, and was given great latitude in pursuing my interests (mechanics, logic, computing, communication). Likewise, my parents were supportive when I dropped out of college to get into this whole crazy web publishing revolution. I'm the only one of my siblings without a degree, but no one makes me feel inferior for it.

Honestly, I don't think that this is a problem that can be solved by public education, because it's really caused by it. "Public" anything is destined to treat people as members of a group instead of as individuals. But it's hard for people to back away from the idea of "universal public education." Think of universal public education as a wheelchair race. It's great for people who can't walk, but it holds back people who want to sprint. And some people can't get past the fact that without that freely available crutch, some people won't ever seek to give themselves a leg up. Some would rather we produce a slurry of mediocrity than allow anyone to fall too far behind the mean.