I love Seth Godin’s response to this question. Take a look:
“School isn’t off the rails. It’s still on the rails. But the society changed. Industrialists built school 100 years ago to train people to be obedient factory workers. The first teacher’s college in Massachusetts was called The Normal School. It was to train teachers to make their kids ‘normal’… The problem is, we don’t reward obedient factory workers anymore.
“We are not creating any good jobs where you get paid to do exactly what you are told. Because if we can find someone to do what they are told, we will find someone cheaper than you. No, the future belongs to people who can do TWO things, and these are the only things we need to teach children at school. We need to teach them to lead, and to solve interesting problems. And we don’t do either of those.”
– Seth Godin