I think the point was public speaking/advocating for oneself to adults and teachers, not to other students. Presenting in class would presumably be to one teacher and many peers.
As far as taking control of your own education, again, I disagree that there isn't much that they can control. I suppose it varies from student to student, but if you have a student that gets two questions wrong on a test and it causes them to slide down into the lower grade bracket, yet the student doesn't perceive missing two questions as being that big of a deal, but when charting it out and reviewing the data is able to make that correlation, then they can take control of their own education by reviewing and reestablishing their goals, talking to their teacher themselves to figure out what skills they are lacking in that they need to acquire and make a plan to do so, and communicating in real time with their parents, then I consider that a win-win situation all the way around. No, they can't control the curriculum, but they can assume control of the curriculum that they are being made to follow. We advocate for our kids all the time, I think it is great when my daughter can advocate for herself and obtain results that are measurable. It builds confidence and leadership and helps provide organizational skills.
