Probably we had vastly difference experiences, but this is how I see it. If you try to quit school before a certain age you're arrested, that's one difference. Well I've certainly had jobs that are nothing like you described as far as being watched at every turn, though I acknowledge many are like that, sometimes out of necessity. Non profits in particular are more laid back and some people run their own business. I've even done IC work at home in my underwear (TMI i know). The point is we have options, at least more so than K-12.
What I'm saying is that nothing or at least very little gets accomplished at K-12 that a mildly intelligent person couldn't accomplish better at home with a computer and a few books. Yes, it's that ineffective. Well, once basic reading skills has been acquired anyway. That's not saying much that the compensation for 180 days a year of confinement was the brand of learning entailed by watching Casper over and over, or trying to keep my ear drums intact during study hall, or later on having rocks thrown at me in the parking lot.
There were whole classes where a substitute would come in and the dumbasses would just yell and shoot spitballs at the poor guy for an entire hour. I wasn't being taught ****, period, nor did I find myself struggling to catch up once I moved on to college. I find that quite a sad reflection on the current state of K-12 in this country. If that's not true, please tell me how I could skip 30 days a year and it make no difference in grades? You would have me punished for choosing to not endure anymore than I had to that slice of personal hell that served absolutely no purpose? How does any of that relate to the real world?
I'm a big proponent of home schooling though, and from what I've heard on it, standardized test scores are much higher. How is that possible if they aren't learning more outside the classroom, putting the time to better use?
HOME-SCHOOLING: Outstanding results on national tests - Washington Times
"Five areas of academic pursuit were measured. In reading, the average home-schooler scored at the 89th percentile; language, 84th percentile; math, 84th percentile; science, 86th percentile; and social studies, 84th percentile. In the core studies (reading, language and math), the average home-schooler scored at the 88th percentile."