I don't think it's necessary to learn to work and learn to think in school, but if a kid doesn't learn it somewhere they are at a great disadvantage once they would like to achieve anything difficult. There are habits that are traditionally expected to be learned at school, like how to solve problems that don't have obvious solutions, how to work at something until you achieve a product that is good enough (rather than either perfect or just better than everyone else's), how to manage time and break projects down into manageable chunks, how to be a good sport, etc. etc. These skills are difficult to achieve when everything comes easy. Can these skills be learned outside of school? Sure. Sports, competitions, real-life projects around the house, just to name a few. But to put a kid in a situation where they are always the best, where they always knows the answer, are always the first one to complete a project with little effort, it's not healthy. When a kid grows up thinking they are the smartest or that they should be the best at everything they are often in for a rude awakening when they actually need to put forth effort and still can't produce perfection, or even something better than everyone else. See
The Goldilocks Problem.
But then I'm with snowgirl, a semi-reformed underachiever. I would just say that if your kid isn't going to learn some of these life skills at school, it's important to find other ways to provide them.
