I've had an interesting thought on my hand, and it was mostly derived from this "

Essentially, a person does whatever they want, and present it at the end of the day. And it has shown some marvelous results. And what I was thinking was...how about we integrate this idea into our school system? Why don't we let kids work how they want to work?

Let's tell kids "Hey! We'd like you to do whatever you want and at the end, let's have a little pop quiz, where we quiz each other on [insert things to learn at the end of the arbitrary point in time]. It has no real effect on your future, it's just a fun little party where we get to share new and exciting things we learn".

I think this will be a really effective method of learning.

Pros:

Note: I've noticed these things for myself and among my friends. These may change among different people.

• Productivity. This, Self direction is one of the biggest motivators I've experienced, personally. I mean, for example,take making a giant castle in Minecraft. I wasn't told to make it. I just did it because it was what I wanted to do. And I did it with as much efficiency as I could. I didn't slack of one bit. Another example would be studying. Whenever I have free periods, I get at least 1 chapter of my maths book done. No help from teachers and no one to tell me what to do. I just do it. This self direction makes us so efficient as we are doing what we want to do.
  
• Satisfaction. This is really important. I really get this feel of satisfaction whenever I do work I want to do. Be it learning Redox chemistry or building the a factory with my bare hands (in Minecraft). I just feel really happy when I'm doing something I love.
  
• It helps show us what kids are good at, and what they like. This is really useful, I feel, to see what kids are good at. Thus, as they age, we can help them specialize in what they love from an earlier age, so as to flourish their talents.
  
• It will change people's idea of schools. School will no longer be this dull, dreary place, where tedious, seemingly pointless work is handed out to you. It'll be this exciting new world, where we are allowed the resources to do what we want, with people that we like.
  
• It allows us to work beyond what we have to learn. For example, let's say that they'll quiz us on the atom. I might the history of the atom, as well as more advanced things, such as writing the arrangement of electrons according to energy levels, whereas they'd just expect us to know the Neils Bohr model.
  

Interesting questions it raises:

My answers are in blue

• At what age does this free reign start to work/stop. Is it more successful at an early age, declining as time moves on? Or is it a pointless endeavor, only succeeding among the older age group.
  

I feel it would work among all ages. Who wouldn't want to do the things they love, even as a baby?

• Does it only work for people who already have a direction in their life? Who at least have a rough idea as to where they are going. Or will it help them find their direction?
  

I think we have to give some stimulus for this to work out, or an end goal, like the one I mentioned (the quiz). There doesn't have to be a final end goal, but many small ones. For example, instead of saying "Become a physicist who works at CERN" we should have goals such as "What is a wave?".

• How much free reign is too much free reign? Where should we stop, if we should stop at all?
  

I'm going for a bit of restrictions, so as to guide the kids with some direction, to make sure they at least have a guide as to where to begin learning. Trying to learn quantum physics without prior scientific knowledge might prove to be a challenge, as that's where kids might start as they think it's cool. And then it might put them off, from seeing all the equations.

• Will there be a decline in the amount of kids who do science or maths? Will their be a decline in all traditional subjects?
  

I feel that subjects like maths and science are boring because of the way they're taught (and social conventions) rather than them being inherently boring. I mean, maths and science are incredibly fun, it's just that they way maths and science is taught seemed to be more about memorizing, more than anything else. Which is boring.

I know I don't have a Cons section, but I couldn't think anything bad. Just questions about effect of the method. Not saying there isn't anything bad, just that I get tired at 3:00am.

So, what do you guys think of this idea?

Also, I recommend watching the whole video. It sure is an interesting video.