Don't tell me to discuss!
The academic system is not quite a failure, however it is seen in the wrong viewing, and expected to do much greater than it possibly can.
I know a few people who are considered "genius" by any standard, and their intellect most obviously and expectantly did not come from our formal education system. I have been investigating, for the past year now, what causes one to excel in the school and have found two answers. One is general interest, and one is "third-party" motivation. In both cases, I would argue that in the basics of things, motivation is the sole reason we learn.
And that is where our schools fail. Middle school, highschool and college are not meeting the best possible standards due to the inability for one teacher to arouse an entire audience's excitement from every background. There are many teachers with the ability to motivate, intrigue, and interest students, but usually this is confined, as the teacher-student relationship cannot over-shadow the teacher-classroom importance; i.e. if one student shows great interest, the teacher can not nurture that student's ability to learn - the priority must lay within the entire classrooms "average" on tests.
I have often been in a situation where I know that I am in dire need to get a substantially good grade within a class, however I have no motivation or interest in the class. I have two options: will myself to study and attempt to cram information that I know will soon fall out my brain's ass, or to find interest - to find an aspiring idea or ideology within the subject.
This is, of course, easier with a teacher who is his or herself inspired by the subject - hence why I became interested in anarchistic & communistic ideas (see Stefano Bloch).
The system is too old and there is too much money tied up within it to simply toss it around, however. I'm currently reading "Inventing better schools" by some dood, and find it interesting - but I'm only 50 pages in.
Schools are meant to create a work force, plain and simple. In an economical view, it is important to have schools so people can eventually learn enough to either deal with people in a polite manner, learn enough about technology that they can understand simple concepts about it, etc. Everything up to a bachelors (and even a masters degree) is to stimulate commerce and keep money flowing smoothly. Some go into making trinkets, some go into selling trinkets, some go into managing the making and selling of trinkets, some think of new trinkets - etc. You go to school to get a job, not to evaluate your interests.
To actually learn something you buy books. Stop making me write a lot.
