Yes, I'm a product of public ed too and an ex-teacher. I'm not very complimentary of the process overall. I had and worked with some very good, very dedicated teachers. They are not the majority, but then above average is never the majority.
I really feel like I educated myself, with a few pushes and prods from the occasional good teacher. School doesn't really accommodate kids on either end of the Bell curve. Modified: that sounds wrong. "Normal", non-quirky kids do ok. Others...not so much.
When teaching, keeping up with the bureaucracy made actual teaching a secondary priority. The kids always needed more than I could give them.
And, that's my 10 cents worth.