I think we are in agreement, but coming at it from different angles. Autonomy is fundamental (see my thoughts there), but unless you go with something closer to the completely autonomous ‘Free Learning’ schools championed by Dr Peter Gray or some of the Silicon Valley experiments, (which are prohibitively expensive and complicated) large public schools require some kind of content defined curriculum. My other point here and elsewhere is that by withdrawing from content altogether, it ends up defined by either the Academics or some kind of ill-fitting and inauthentic skill focus. One of the reasons I think the newspaper is particuarly effective is exactly for the reasons you suggest: a real-world-driven autonomy that has evolved specifically to meet real-world-driven autonomy!