I'd rather skip a middle four. It's necessary for everyone to learn basic things like literacy and arithmetic, but remember that the idea of setting school leaving age at 18 was supposed to be that you would then have finished your education. If most people are going to be going to college, then school leaving age should be set at 14, so that you can spend those next four years learning something useful instead of just marking time while you memorize the dates of Napoleon's battles and the agricultural products of Denmark.
Haha yes. Also, the elementary school environment is somewhat conducive to social interaction. But once you reach the individual classes of middle school, everything changes. You have to spend time out of class to socialize with people (meanwhile, if you're in class, you're simply taking huge amounts of time to learn what you can self-study in a short period of time). And if you'd prefer to study, then you pretty much wouldn't talk with anyone. Which is why I pretty much find my middle school years to be the most painful parts of my primary education - alt...
http://thielfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=19
Thoughts?
A lot of Thiel's beliefs are in line with those of a significant portion of the LessWrong community, so I trust his judgment more than I trust that of most.