Originally posted by Eladar"In the US most schools practice social promotion."
I think it would be more important that we demand a certain level of competancy before we throw even more at them. In the US most schools practice social promotion. This means that what a kid does during the year doesn't matter. If the kid gets passed up through the school with their peers. You keep kids the same age together because you don't want a 16 y ...[text shortened]... e viewing window, but now we are teaching how to use a Calculator, not mathematical concepts.
That ought to be academic fraud. Kids know they are not being held responsible for what they do, and they know teachers have no disciplinary tool at their disposal. If they receive less than adequate motivation at home, they'll get none at school.
So all these "innovative" methods are useless without responsibility, motivation, and discipline.