Within the traditional structure, I feel it is helpful to look at alternative ways to do school. The Coalition high school groups students into families or houses across age and grade to accomplish their mission of personalization. I believe that such grouping focuses a school in an important way and does help student acheivement. Part of the problem is attitudinal and inertia, and some of it involves costs. Research, however, has taught us over the last several years about learning styles and child development that points to greater tailoring of instruction.
Technology offers some opportunity to fulfill the promise of individualized instruction.
There are lots of forces right now, however, that are pulling schools towards more standardization of curriculum and testing. Some of this will likely be for the good as achievement levels rise and we are able to gauge how our children are doing in comparison with other nations. I share your concern about education boiling down to a checklist of skills. Finally, I am not sure I understand your final question about students leaving school. Most education is outside the classroom anyway, as schools only have the children for a few hours each day.