The main thing you should understand is that our public education system (in the United States) as well as most other public Ed systems from what I read, is based on a Prussian system which Prussians adopted after Napoleon wiped them at Jena in 1807. That system was never intended to produce self-reliant people; it was intended to produce cannon fodder and bricks in the wall.

The best expert on public education in the world is probably John Taylor Gatto, a two time teacher of the year in New York City who finally left the public school system after reaching the conclusion that the system was harming children and that there was nothing which he could do about it as a teacher. Google and/or YouTube searches on "John Gatto" will turn up as much of that story as you could stand to read or listen to.