I like this topic.
My experience with public schools was relatively painless. My parents took the initiative when I was young and taught me everything I would learn in kindergarten before I started school. I liked learning on my own and rented every National Geographic video in the library. My parents bought me a set of encyclopedias which I read frequently and by the time I actually started school I was well ahead of the other kids. My first grade teacher actually asked me to pronounce some dinosaur names for her when we covered dinosaurs. The worst experience I can remember is riding the bus to and from school everyday. Thats where I learned most of the swear words in my vocabulary. The bus is awful for young kids. If you want your 6 year old child to know what a blow job is, by all means let them ride the school bus for a few days. Aside from some playground fights, the first few years of school were pretty uneventful.
5th grade is when I first remember anyone actually trying to teach me anything. Math started becoming more than just basic arithmetic and history was more than just watching movies about how America was formed. My parents made me join the band which I had no interest in. I quit after a year having learned nothing. I'd like to learn to play an instrument, but not as huge group. I don't remember any bullies from middle school, but there probably was at least one. I made friends with some pretty tough kids and I didn't need to worry about bullies ever again. I don't remember much about middle school other than it establishing me in the group of the most popular unpopular kids.
High school is when I had to start putting forth a small effort to maintain my 4.0 average. By that time, it was pretty much sorted out who was going to graduate and go to college and who was going to prison. Unfortunately, the kids with a future still had to share space with the kids who should just drop out and start their meth lab early. If you ignore half the student body, we actually had a decent school. I had a great math teacher who would publicly shame you until you got your shit together, but she knew what she was talking about. She didn't subscribe to the feel good self esteem movement and it made those who could handle it better people for it. It got her a lot of hate from the people who couldn't take it, but I learned more from her than any other teacher I've had. Most of my teachers were awesome if you didn't act like an idiot. Some would even joke around with our group of friends at lunch. Our principle was a dick, but I guess that is his job. He was nice to me though, mainly because I, along with about 10 other students, propped up our school's test scores and made us look better when it came time for the government to divide up the funds for each school district.
I guess my experience was better than most, judging by some of the schools I see in documentaries about the failing school system. I went to a private university so I can't say what its like going to a public college (from a student's perspective anyway.)
If you want to watch some good documentaries on the subject, I recommend Waiting for Superman and The War on Kids.
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