I'm pretty sure it is.

I went to a K to 12 school for my last 4ish years of HS, and the kindergartners (the kids, not just teachers) were already almost mind-dead cult like in "Prep for the test!" and "Go $TEAM!".

There were a couple really good teachers across all levels of the school, but not enough.

My opinion was pretty close to yours in my late teens/twenties but as I’ve aged and become friends with teachers, my feelings have gotten more nuanced. Those teachers make very little money, receive virtually no support from parents and are more often than not treated like babysitters, not educators. Complicating matters, school divisions are so poorly funded that despite all of that, they still fund many classroom activities out of their own pockets.

Give the teachers a break. Their jobs suck...

To be clear, I am not blaming most teachers.

I can trace many of my current skills, interests and aspirations directly to several of my teachers, most often in contexts not directly related to their core subject.

There is the occasional teacher who is there to power trip, but they are by far the minority. The school system crushes teachers just as much as it does the kids.

Edit: Reread my comment you replied to, if I made it sound like the teachers were mind-dead, that was absolutely not my goal. I just wanted to specify that the kids themselves were like that, and worried it might be misinterpreted as the school itself being like that.

Hey friend, thanks for writing back. Sorry that I misinterpreted what you were saying.

Have a great day and thanks for this conversation!! :)

No problem, it's my fault I phrased it badly.

Same to you!

No friend, there’s no fault at all. Thanks to the way you phrased it, I got to listen to a really intelligent person explain their true feelings. That meant a lot to me and honestly, I’m more embarrassed by young me!! :)

Our currently public school system was designed to produce factory workers and conscripts, no happy, healthy kids. And at the time, and given the level of resources then, that made sense.