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Comment by DennisP | Hacker News Reader

The rest sounds bad but "they have to wait for others to catch up" sounds like a win for homeschooling.

It's unsurprising that a teacher-student ratio around 1:1 could yield incredible academic results. If that so often comes at the cost of skills necessary to operate in the vast majority of real world environments though, it's kind of useless.

Schools are extremely artificial environments compared to pretty much everything else that comes later in life.

I don't disagree that schools are completely artificial environments. However what matters is that they're able to teach skills that are necessary in most real-world environments.

Have you ever heard of the fable about the tortoise and the hare? Sometimes speed isn't the most important.

Except when they try and get a job, be part of a social group or are in any sort of leadership position.

Everything in life is better when you’re a team player.

Which is why I said the rest sounds bad. But being a step ahead of your peers is something else that makes life better.

Try that with a romantic partner. Not attractive.

In a leadership role, being exasperated by half the team? Not motivating.

Also, the premise is that you are ahead of the bunch. It's also feasible that you are below the local average, and have no experience dealing with that situation. Takes guts to persist in that situation, but that's where you learn a lot.

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