Well, you must have been an exceptional child to be able to take responsibility for your own education. I have a son, and he is quite smart, but the idea of him making lemonade out of the public school systems lemons is beyond me. And for young children I believe a teacher does have to "spell it out" for her kids. That is how they learn. In high school I think people need to take control of their learning, but they seldom do. They have to desire to learn, or they never will. But all this depends on the underlying self esteem and confidence in their own abilities that should be instilled in the elementary years. -Kim