About ‘free nature’, well, humans developed in small tribes for a long time, with sons learning their fathers’ craft and the women mostly staying at home learning crafts, cooking, etc. But at some point, we decided as a society to advance beyond that. A school system teaches every citizen the basic skills and knowledge required to thrive in modern society (ideally). Unfortunately, in our society, yes, parents usually need to work during the day. And I know, the bells and the classes and the discipline can remind one of the army. But it’s really kind of the most available method. How else can we educate most children? If we also really want to go and look at history, anthropology, and learning, we should look at class sizes. A class size of five to ten children learns extremely well compared to forty. The point of testing, to your point, is to try and verify learning of a concept or skill. Many workplaces expect you to have learned some or most of the base skills to help you understand the work and do it efficiently, before you get hired. Or, you have on-the-job training. Learning how to ask for help is an important social and mental skill, which is lacking from some kids already. Or, more commonly to my experience, they ask for help at the slightest inconvenience or setback. The real issue is not the sitting down and studying, it’s the amount of resources (not) given to schools and teachers, as well as the fact that authority was taken away from them. In ancient rome and greece, up to even the modern age, teachers had authority and respect, and were able to discipline kids and students. Now, I’m not saying we should hit children, but most of the discipline tools we had just ten years ago are complete wishwash compared to now. Partly because of whiny parents who think their ‘golden child’ could do no wrong.

Sorry for the rant.