I actually WAS forced to go to school: I found myself divorced with no work history and no work schooling, so in order to provide for myself, I had to go to school or be stuck at McDonald's. (I hated school when I was a teen and dropped out. It was "boring" as there was no imagination in the classes and no challenges in the subjects.)
I was fortunate in that my interests are varied, which gave me a lot to choose from. The most important things at the time were PC's and office skills. And I didn't go back to school after that until I was already at work; it was because I wanted to upgrade my skills.
And from personal standpoint, I don't think it matters if you are in public school, private school, or home school: If you have a desire to learn, you will learn, in spite of (or maybe because of) your educational opportunities. The key here is not to refuse to learn what may be beneficial a few years from now.
(End of speech.) :)
I'll pick up where you left off. Currently, public school teachers are in the position that slave overseers used to be when it was unlawful for slaves to be taught to read and write.
Some of them accomplish this by sheer incompetence, while others appear to delight in throwing obstacles in the path of determined students.
And yes, admittedly, there are some dedicated teachers who run against the crowd and have not gotten retrained or thoroughly discouraged yet. They will be assimilated -- resistance is futile.
Consider: You go into a shoe store to buy shoes, and they ask you for your address. -- "What's that for?" -- "You have to buy shoes where we allow you to buy shoes. You can't just buy shoes anywhere. That's not our system."
Un-American, right? Look at what has happened to us.
Consider: You go into a school to register a student, and they ask you for your address. -- "What's that for?" -- "You have to register students where we allow you to register students. You can't just register students anywhere. That's not our system."
Dang right. That's not an American system. < /rant off >
(Hmm. It would appear my mood has darkened a bit in the past few hours. Curse that drinking problem!!)