The black hole of education

The new school year started this week. The youngsters are anxious but happy, while their parents are mostly frustrated. They know that the struggle related to extracurricular lessons, which range from basic skills such as foreign languages to more sophisticated knowledge, is about to start and will intensify through the last years of elementary school.

This also means that discussions about the money to be spent on private cramming schools to cover the real or fictitious needs of their children will also start. As far as the kids are concerned, they will have to endure exhausting study hours with little time for play or relaxation.
Then, we have the annual report of the Authority for Quality Assurance in Primary and Secondary Education (ADIPPDE), which indicated that a large percentage of 11th graders, in particular, at regular and technical public high schools in...