I could have written this

by folkbum

If you cut and paste from things I've written here and elsewhere in the last decade, I probably have written most of these sentiments. But Louanne Johnson puts them all in one place:

Most American teachers are good at their jobs -- when they are allowed to do their jobs. And that is the primary problem with our public schools. Teachers are not allowed to teach.

Or rather, they are told how to teach in such great detail and required to document what they are teaching in such great detail and expected to spend so much time teaching students to pass the tests that will prove the teachers have paid such great attention to detail that the teachers don’t have time to teach the information and skills their students need.