(I) With only minor exceptions, public education in the United States is committed to twelve years schooling for all the children of all the people. (II) In the first year potential truck drivers and janitors sit alongside embryo research physicists and journalists. (III) This is also true of the twelfth year. (IV) In most schools, moreover, they use the same textbook, and are marked on the same standards. (V) Indeed, certain elements of the learning situation cannot be discussed at all.