Another thought: Aren't we all punished for the actions of bad apples.
Reminds me of what I said in: The Fight for Conscious Human Life:
"Man made rules, punish the many, because of few, in favor of a few or to aggrandize the man that made the rule."

When driving, like anything else, you have to be actively engaged. Although we 'sometimes' get away with having our minds active on something else...it's still not totally instinctive. The brain will do it's job for most but the mind must be aware of what the brain/body is doing.
Think of all the times you weren't paying attention to Where you Put you Keys...Laughing

Not exactly welcoming, now is it.

Regarding the first third of your post, I blame much of the problem on the fact that cars are 'too easy' to drive. Driving a typical car at the speed limit (especially on the interstate) is BORING! I know some people who rarely drive anywhere without talking on the phone. Even if they use hands-free, their mind is NOT on driving. It confuses me how few take the time to learn to drive well, considering that doing it poorly can get you killed.

Considering the number of people killed in auto accidents each year, and that any numbskull can get a license, some caution on the road is advisable. Aside from drifting attention to food, phone, and finding places, fools in other cars may challenge reflexes and reaction times to sudden situations. Self-driving cars cater to diminishing capabilities. Are people actually getting dumber, or is there more and more to integrate? We are still basically mammals not conditioned to the ever-growing complexities of the world as it has developed, with nearly 8 billion diverse mental systems and sensory content. The slower ones left behind of course resent it. So it's easy for them to envy and to hate the smart as well as the rich for being "superior". Can one be superior without harming the inferior? Can the inferior be the best they can be without wanting to harm the superior? Is incompetence a character flaw or a result of natural selection? There are no quick answers, no tweet-size judgments. If there were, aside from the golden rule, we would not have wars any more.

That's where I wanted to go, too.

Agreed, Term2. Public education, at least in my experience, was a complete waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

My senior year of high school was not that boring. I had read most of the interesting things in the library
by the end of my Jr. year so I majored in Perry Mason and E. S. Gardner, finishing one book and starting the next one. I had several conversations with the principal, who had earned my respect, asking for a Sr. year math class of calculus and a Spanish language sequence since it was more likely to be more useful than French. No luck for me but they added both the year after I graduated. I found my first challenging and interesting classes at the U S Army Artillery and Missile School, wondered why all H S classes couldn't be taught that well. With thanks to the people who taught me to read, and the math instructors that together gave me the education needed to succeed there. USA A&MS made life changing difference for me. Ended up teaching for 30 years using their model/methods as much as I could.

I know. I pay property taxes that go to public education but I have no kids

And the taxes that are wasted on it. Bye, bye, everlasting state threat to steal our homes.

I made up for it after school where I developed my interest in engineering and electronics on my own. It was in the past, and I have forgotten it. If I had kids, which I didnt, I wouldnt want to send them to public schools at all. I would want them to learn what they wanted to learn, when they felt they needed it and it had relevance to their lives.

I wonder where I would be if I had gone to Montessori schools instead of public ones

I suppose one of the purposes was just to enhance governmental power ; if the students learned anything of value it was just incidental

I would vote to get rid of public education in its entirety

I am sorry you were bored. School should teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, and history. Today's schools spend time on everything else--look at the result.

There was no gifted program for my son, either. He was bored with school throughout, after skipping through K-2. No parenting fun, having a kid who is bored at school.

At home, he got an education... we spent the dinner hour and many long weekend breakfasts starting as a toddler-- playing with numbers (they are like magic), telling stories, discussing social security, etc. Whatever we thought about we just talked about. Just talk and play, nothing formal. He was doing long division at the age of 4. They booted him out of Kindergarten within a week, after they reported was he was beyond 2nd grade reading level.

He read Dune at the age of 8.

I don't know much about nature vs nurture when it comes to IQ, but this kid grew up to be a very well-adjusted, successful and, most importantly, a happy person.

I can remember several teachers saying they were teaching us how to think.
Those words, exactly.
When I was a youthful innocent, I misinterpreted it as teaching us to think for ourselves, and had to suppress a belly laugh.
I realize now it was much more malign in intent.

Force feeding propaganda. Teaching little of practical value. The system of education has been flawed for a long time, and has been getting progressively worse. (pun intended)

Thank goodness Mensa published workbooks for kids.
My mom sent me to school with them. It kept me sane.

So it's even worse now than it was in the 70s.
How awful.

Reality doesnt care about one's feelings.

After school was my time to learn on my own the things I WANTED to know about. High school was boring beyond belief.

Kids LEARN what they want to know about, arent really TAUGHT. Todays schools are into force feeding students what the administrators want them to learn, regardless of whether the students are interested.

I was bored to death in high school. Looking back on it, I am actually angry that I was forced to endure pretty worthless classes that never netted me anything. I learned more AFTER school in my home electronics and photography shop- completely on my own with a few books. Today, school learning is pretty much eclipsed by YouTube, where you can learn what YOU want to learn when you need it and your interest takes you.

I'm usually hauling a horse trailer and do not have the luxury of getting above the speed limit. Instead I occasionally discover that behind me, perhaps for the last several miles of two-lane back road, the driver of a little red car has been trying to make me go faster by tailgating so closely that I could not see him. We think those drivers are hoping for some free fertilizer.