This question has almost become rhetorical because most people I know agree that yes, it does.
The fact that most everyone agrees public school is crap and nothing is being done about is a topic in and of itself but I'll just stick to this.
I thought about this after responding to Allegory in my other thread. This link goes to www.ted.com which will have a presentation regarding this very subject.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66
I for one whole heartedly agree. Once I got to about 7th grade I started realizing how incredibly bored I was with school. I hated it. The only subject I liked was English and I always excelled at that class but I'd usually do poorly in my other subjects from a perpetual state of boredom. I was horrible at math and I absolutely hated it. All I wanted to do was write. All the time. I would often dream of a high school where all I had to do was focus on writing/english. I would make up for that by reading all the time in school. To the point where I got yelled at for reading and not paying attention in class.
Anyway, what do you guys think? How much do you feel school helped you to face the world today?