Why are kids in school?
They are taught to the tests following the testing calendar. They are taught in a one size fits all program where every class on the same grade and every class on the same subject is covering the same skill at the same time.
They are taught not to mastery, but to pass the tests. That’s all! They are taught quickly covering a skill in two to three days with an insufficient amount of practice on the skill in class and at home. There is no time for review or remediation of the skill. There is no time to bring children up to grade level on the skills that they did not master in previous grades.
Teach the skill. Limited practice on the skill. Move on to the next skill. Test the skill on the periodic tests and on the major end-of-the year tests.
Education is becoming more and more robotic. This is what you do every day, every hour, every minute. It is prescribed for the students and the teachers.
The chances for a true, well rounded education in a public school in the United States is about the same as all the jobs sent to China coming back.