Learning or a Script?

The students at City Springs Elementary School were performing well below where the national and state standards said they should.  The narrator stated at the beginning of the film, "5th graders are 3 years or more behind language arts."  I was very skeptical at first while viewing the film because although I may not agree with how free the Albany Free School is, I don't believe children should be taught in any way that is reminiscent of drill sergeants barking commands and soldiers repeating memorized lines in unison.  I don't remember the teachers from my early education being even remotely similar to how City Springs' teachers are with their students.  We had a competitive reading program in place that awarded you points based upon the difficulty of the book and how well you scored on a test about the content of the book.  By the time I entered 5^th grade, I was reading books that were deemed to be of high school level difficulty.  I remember being encouraged by my teachers who saw how much I loved to read and how much I loved learning; one teacher gave me a 5^th grade math book to do “independent study” while the rest of the class was in the middle of learning their multiplication tables.  I disagree with how many standardized tests I took throughout my education, and I still disagree with the education that has been formed as a result of the U.S.’s “exam culture.”  Yet, the film stated that after filming ceased, the average City Springs’ 1^st grader was reading and doing math well above the national average.  Does a child’s education that comes as a result of “Direct Instruction” constitute real learning? In this specific system of instruction, teachers are prevented from being creative in their lesson plans, and students are required to follow a strict structure when answering questions or responding to the teacher’s prompts.  This reminds me of many times I became frustrated (while on my study abroad) with the education system in Japan.  Rather than allow a student to think critically, the focus is placed on memorization of facts and exams to show what you (as a student) have learned.  If you don’t do well on the exam, it means you didn’t learn anything, which is truly the most ludicrous type of reasoning.  By the end of the film, the students at City Springs seem happier, but is this a result of what they have learned or because they have been taught to act in a certain way?  Even so, “The longest line at the carnival is the spelling booth” (1:21:45).  What role does a teacher’s creative involvement play in how a student learns?  Is it important to base a student’s progress on how well he or she does on an exam and compare that to millions of other students nationwide?  Just how long can a child actually be expected to sit still?  How does Direct Instruction education fit in higher grade levels, or are students mature enough by that point to allow for some leniency in how they think?  Where do critical thinking skills fit in this type of education system and what are the effects for how students learn in this type of setting?