I'd argue the purpose of school as we know it (Prussian model) is to indoctrinate the students to bow to authority, and diminish trust in peers.

In which case you'd expect (student-lead) learning outside of school would be superior, as you mentioned.

I know a lot of teachers, and I've never met one who was even aware of, much less in support of, the "prussian model." I have kids in school, and consequently know lots of kids. I've never noticed that the ones who are more successful in school, are more authoritarian.

The "prussian model" strikes me as an urban legend.

> It's not entirely uncommon that people feel they learn way better outside of school. I'd say that's a pretty huge indication of failure, given the fact that the entire purpose of school is learning.

i did fine in school, but until my upper-level college courses, i learned much more and more thoroughly from internet research and self-guided reading. i'm a millenial, so maybe things were different for older generations, but i also lived in what was considered a very good school district. i can hardly remember anything i learned in high school 10-15 years ago, but i can easily talk about the books i read at the time.

well, i can think of an exception -- i had an excellent english teacher that taught me how to write much better essays.

Well, your real life example goes back to first post in this thread, which is that motivation is at least half the battle (or even the only battle). You were not motivated by school, but your were motivated in specific books, so you remember those. And, lucky you, you had a motivator as an english teacher, while I which I had one of those...