I learned that people don't think the way I do, that my peers can include sadists, that adults can make mistakes or be arses and you can be powerless to change their minds.
Which was valuable, but it wasn't telling me anything about "the system" being flawed (unless you count the fact it was a Catholic school and that I stopped being Christian while in that school as a result of reading the Bible), which I had to figure out gradually in adulthood.
I think there should be clarity on the differences between public and private schools.
On one hand, funding for public schools precludes some activities and may result in a lower quality of education due to selection bias. On the other hand, private institutions play by their own rules and this can often result in even worse learning environments.
I don't know what the rules are in the UK (or what they were at the time), but we did get school inspectors visiting from time to time.
I only thought to mention this at all because if you say "public school" in the UK you mean a school you have to pay a fee for, to contrast with "private tuition" (amongst other historical baggage): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom)
I learned that people don't think the way I do, that my peers can include sadists, that adults can make mistakes or be arses and you can be powerless to change their minds.
Which was valuable, but it wasn't telling me anything about "the system" being flawed (unless you count the fact it was a Catholic school and that I stopped being Christian while in that school as a result of reading the Bible), which I had to figure out gradually in adulthood.