Formal education is a joke. Not many kids like school, actually I don't know anyone who likes school, yet some of these people do good in school because they want to be successful, I am one of these people also.
Learning is much easier when you are actually interested in the subject. When I am debating in the SFA section for instance, and I look up a source to help my argument and read it, that information stays in my head for a very long time. If I had to look something up for school, I would probably forget what that article was about.
Most people do not even remember what they learned last year, I know I only remember the information that was what I thought was interesting or useful. You basically have to study really hard to pass the end of the year test, and after that everything is flushed down the toilet and you forget it. Waste of time if you ask me.
According to Howard Gardner, there are seven types of intelligence:
1. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (number/reasoning smart)
2. Existential Intelligence
3. Interpersonal Intelligence (people smart)
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (body smart; sports)
5. Linguistic Intelligence (word smart; use language effectively to describe things)
6. Intra-personal Intelligence (self smart)
7. Spatial Intelligence (picture smart; spacial intelligence)
Now think about how many of these intelligences are accounted for in class.
Personally, I think we need to do away with formal education as a whole. It is much easier to learn if there is a need or a desire to learn than to sit at a desk for hours cramming information into your brain. This could save a lot of time and money, and we could get our kids smarter faster.
The alternative to academia would be to create learning webs. People need easy access to educational resources. More about that in "Deschooling society" by Ivan Illich. Full text can be found here:
http://reactor-core.org/deschooling#chapter6