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I find the "preparing students for the world" to be a very interesting concept -- and, to me, it has many facets.  Personally, I was prepared by the "listen to your superiors" or "never question authority."  That was the way my high school basically, if even unconsciously, prepared its students.  My parents, though, prepared me by telling me to question everything that I don't understand or that I think can be done better.  So, is there a right way to prepare students for the "real world"?  What is the "real world" that we want to prepare them for: tangible success, desire to learn more, desire to please, etc?  Perhaps if we are preparing them for life-long learning as "reality", as this class has suggested, we should be encouraging the questioning aspect rather than the obeying aspect.  As a sidenote, I don't believe that 'disobeying' necessarily means 'disrespectful.'  I think this is particularly important to encourage in school: questioning respectfully, disagreeing respectfully, arguing with the intention of learning more rather than instigating anger. 

In the past year, I've had 2 out of 8 classes that are lecture style.  My other classes have been discussion/forum based.  Many liberal arts colleges are shifting toward this spectrum of education, which seems to foster the idea of inquiry.

However, it was brought up that the job of teachers is to prepare their students for college 'lectures.'  Are we okay with saying "that's the way it is?"  Do we learn by doing this?  Has society ever created anything new by just saying "that's the way it is?"  Invention doesn't come about from saying that phrase, and neither does innovation.  It seems that, while that is the majority of how it is, that majority is changeable.  We change everyday.  Should we be encouraging students to accept "that's the way it is" or to question and say.. "that's not the only way it can be?"