Does institutional education serious damage minds?

The question was just meant to be an eye-catcher rather than a serious question but I note from my readings over the past few days that the US 'No Child Left Behind' which comes with the strap-line - promoting educational excellence for all Americans - may not be so good at doing just that as it thinks it is. The Boston Globe gives an indication of the problem and it is picked up by the Open Education blog which comments: Hidden beneath the surface was yet another subtle demonstration as to why the No Child Left Behind Act may actually be acting as a deterrent to improved educational outcomes.

This is quite a worry as the English version - 'Every Child Matters' has certain synergies with its American 'name sake'.

I think that the gist might well be that massive, institutional systems have a unique way of levelling down rather than, as the rhetoric hopefully suggests, levelling up. I have no answers to this, but intend to keep my eye on this ball to see whether the move from 'Department for Education and Science' to 'Department for Children, Schools and Families' has the effect of achieving the aim ...to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up ...and to give them a top class education .