I taught myself to read too. Dr Seuss. By 2nd grade I was in a different part of the library choosing books while the rest of my class was choosing theirs. I was OK at math. I got basic math pretty easy, addition, subtraction, multiplication, long division. Algebra wasn't too hard with foil and please excuse my dear aunt Sally and all that. Geometry was OK, but I started getting bored after that. I didn't see the need for advanced mathematics. Reading and writing were my strong suits.
It's a choice. We can choose to spend more on schools and less on other things, if we decide to. How about the same way most other employees are held accountable? Managerial observation/judgement. Agreed. To some extent it might be possible to improve parents, but it's not likely to eliminate that problem. barfo
You have the teachers, parents, and students grade the experience and results from the prior year. That should get the really troublesome teachers out within a few years. The money is going to have to come from somewhere if we want to remein competitive with other countries. Shift some military funding or defacit spend... Whatever. IMO there isn't much more important than educating the people who will control our future.
