Education Reform--Too Good to be True?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309090/1/

This makes a lot of sense to me, because it is consistent with how I personally learn things--learn the formula, then repeat, expand, improve, innovate.  (See what I did there?  Using New Dorp's formula helped me express a thought, even now.)  I also write to organize my thoughts, and that process advances my learning. 

Could it be that we have swung too far away from the Catholic instruction of the 50s, and simply need to find the right balance between the formulaic and the creative?  This article presents the Hochman approach practically as a panacea to our failing education system, not invoking criticisms until the back half of the last page.  What about the method isn't convincing? What evidence exists to shed light on how scalable a solution this might be?