I think too much emphasis is placed on teacher responsibility and very little is emphasized on parent responsibility.

Teachers are a tool to help your kids learn. Parents who choose not to be involved directly in their kids education or who themselves don’t take personal responsibility to make sure they help their kids learn/understand really have no one else to blame but themselves.

Teaching to just pass a standardized test (as we sort of do now in CA) does nothing but just breeds people who know how to take tests (but not necessarily know how to apply what they learn). I don’t think there shouldn’t be some standard, but more more it appears more more emphasis is placed on how to pass tests….