A Problem of School

I have recently realized that a serious flaw of school is that a student is consistently told what problems to solve. This is particularly true in the social science and humanities. Usually good problems in the sciences are extremely difficult to answer or have already been answered, so guidance is necessary. On the other hand, the humanities and social sciences are so rife with problems and questions that it is difficult to think about anything without asking tons of them. However, the student is always ushered into a particular box with an essay prompt or topic. It stifles creativity and reduces the quality of work. I have lots of interesting questions to ask, but they usually aren't the ones that teachers want me to answer, or I don't want to answer them in the same way my teachers want. There are some advantages to having prepackaged questions in these disciplines, but I'm not sure that the net result is positive.