Are schools built for learning?

As I was listening to Will Richardson's TED talk I understood what a school really is; a school is a place where students are obligated to attend whether they are learning or not. Teachers are having to rush through their lessons in order to meet standards, which sometimes means that some students are left with unanswered questions that later come to define the teacher's effectiveness, when in reality the teacher was only trying to do her best to cover everything that the students "need" so they can succeed to the eyes that view statistics.
The simple arrangement of classrooms today already says enough, students are to all face one way and sit in a reduced amount of space to where they are not to move from. I believe that all students from all age groups should be able to move around in class and interact with each other and what surround them. Otherwise school is just that place where you go and sit and listen to a person speak. I consider an ideal learning environment to consist of academic freedom, such as learning in a fun way not the old traditional bookwork and notes. I also believe that students should definitely meet a certain criteria, but I do not agree with the result defining how intelligent they are and whether they are ready or not to advance to the next level. When in reality no one is never "ready", there is so much information floating around that a school year just isn't able to fit in due to the length of it. A longer school year is a must, but shorter days are also a must. There is so much the human brain can take a day and it is incredible how students go almost eight hours a day learning eight different things.
In the future of education an ideal learning environment can be enforced by the amount of subjects taught a day and the way those subjects are approached. I am also a supporter of eliminating some standardized testing which does not measure total intelligence. Schools need a change before we lose the interest of our students and school becomes "that one place where I go sit and listen to a person speak."

http://www.montana.edu/facultyexcellence/Papers/activelearn2.html