Being a product of the US school system, the most important lesson it taught me is that teachers as well as students are caught up in a system that's bigger than they are, so in order to educate oneself, one need merely (a) organise one's own time effectively, but (b) avoid doing so indiscreetly, such that it could force other pawns to call one's lack of genuine participation to the attention of the Man.
90% of success in primary and secondary schooling is just showing up; as long as you keep your grades up, they won't demand mental attendance, only the physical.
denn meine Gedanken zerreißen die Schranken
und Mauern entzwei: die Gedanken sind frei.
I agree, but would like to add that the US public school system also has a bad habit of teaching to the test, namely standardized testing like the ACT or SAT. As it turns out, my time would have been better spent learning how to budget long term or navigating the US healthcare system as opposed to learning maths rarely seen in the wild or that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. The information imparted to me during the entire four years of high school has largely been forgotten, "replaced" by more practical knowledge that I wish I'd had even a tiny bit of upon entering adulthood.
90% of success in primary and secondary schooling is just showing up; as long as you keep your grades up, they won't demand mental attendance, only the physical.