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1. The wasted time. SO much wasted time. The whole day felt so slow, with lots of waiting and a tiny amount of learning inside it. I remember thinking I could have done the work of the whole homeschool day inside of 1-2 hours at home.

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2. The impersonalness of the teachers; it was disheartening when the teachers treated my work like it was just another thing on an assembly line of grades (which it was). It didn't feel like I was 'being taught by someone', but like I was pressing buttons in a teaching computer.

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3. The maturity level of the other kids. I'm not sure how 'legit' I'd view it today, but I remember distinctly thinking that the kids in public school felt approximately two years 'younger' - in jokes and mannerisms - than the other homeschooled kids I knew of the same age.

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4. The lack of community. Maybe this was partially me-specific because I was weird and religious, but it seemed true even beyond me - that you couldn't trust kids that weren't your friends. I was used to near-total trust in all the other kids I met in my life.

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Is this a bug or a feature? If the point of school is really to socialize kids for modern urban society, then learning not to trust is important, even if very unpleasant.

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I get the impression public school kids have *significantly less trust* in each other than adults do. Adults typically aren't afraid their peer group might physically beat them up or put them through psychological torment, and adults have the ability to leave.

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That's true. There's a sort of "Lord of the Flies" aspect to Public school that is *not* a part of adulthood. I'd always assumed it was just kids being kids, but maybe this weird place with super high kid:adult ratio breeds that atmosphere.