[metmom]

Didn't the educational establishment try this open classroom stuff or something like it? They provided the kids with EVERYTHING they needed to learn; the best books, equipment, computers, teachers avilable for help if asked for? Wasn't it an abysmal failure? If unschooling is so great, why did the highly regimented, structured, disciplined schools of the 1800's produce such a wealth of inventers, scientists, writers, and polititions? Seems to me that we just don't see people of that caliber these days; not to say that they don't exist but it sure seems that they're pretty scarce.

[Jeff Chandler]

I met a professor of chemistry once, who was required to attend a training session which taught something like this. Afterward, this man, who had a 25 year career in industry, asked why that seminar wasn't taught using that method? The reply: it would take too long!