We're really falling behind because of a lack of education outside the classroom....tutors...people here won't sacrifice entertainment time to work on their weakest subjects...in Asia..parents spend lots of money on tutoring and education outside of school....as a parent I got up hours before work to help my son prepare for a test...he got an academic scholarship with honors but it took discipline and sacrifice...that gave him a good work ethic in college where he graduated with honors....too many parents just let the kids watch tv or play video games and only look at report cards....teachers are limited in what they can accomplish in a classroom. Education needs to have more context....buy a pair of shoes for your kid on sale...have him explain what the discount is and how much he saves...learn to budget...whatever...schools can do so much but education of children is primarily a parenting responsibility. We're not here to raise your kids.
That's all well and good, but if the primary directive is to teach kids towards testing well, that's not actually giving them a good education. They're not learning a well rounded spectrum of subjects.