Conclusion

I believe students should be given the opportunity to understand what they are interested in and follow their interests in their own cross-curricular learning programme.  Certainly not all students are capable of doing this - for a number of reasons.

They might not have particular interests - due to factors such as home life or a life time spent being baby-sat by devices.  They may lack the resilience or self discipline to persist with challenging tasks.  They certainly need to be 'coached' by a teacher or mentor.  Some students just prefer to be told what to do because that is what they've experienced or because it's easier and they have to think less.  Some students just don't have the basic literacy skills.  Others lack collaborative skills.

So many reasons that make such a programme difficult to run.  However I believe that those students who have the ability and the desire to follow their passions / interests can be catered for amongst those who need a more structured programme. 

Smaller class sizes / having a student teacher (or perhaps teacher aide) would better enable this type of programme.

Will I persist? 

Absolutely.