RETURNING ZEAL TO LEARNING

Recently I read a text describing the Summerhill school in Britain, an amazing program geared towards the freedom of children and encouraging their individuality, expression, and creativity.
A comment that struck me is that today we are very concerned about truancy, but have little concern at looking at students who conform to the day to day system with all its flaws. It has always been when we 'just went with the flow' and failed to question that the greatest of evils in history occurred. Our methods of dealing with truancy should not be based on punishment. Instead, we must really take a close look at just how our education system is impacting our children. Just why is it that some children are so avoidant of the experience called school? Why is the process of learning, something that should be a joy and delight, become such a boring, miserable experience for many children? How can we re-create schools to be sanctuaries where children thrive and are excited about the possibilities of sharing new ideas and learning new concepts. What has gone wrong in our education system, and why do we blame the child rather than looking at the real problem?