Teaching to the test

OMG, you are delusional. Some think tank or another did a study and found out that a lot of school spending is done off the books. I looked into my district and found out that they spend about $3,000 per student per year off the books on the physical plant, which is a cost of education. Sure they spend it in 6 year bond cycles that need to get voter approval but they have been spending this kind of money to build and renovate schools for a very long time. Then there is all kinds of federal money that is run off the books, in the form of grants that dont get included in the districts budget.

I came though the public school classrooms, three of my kids did, and I spent one year being a volunteer aid....schools dont feel foriegn to me.

Back to the OP, here in Korea teaching to the test is not only the norm, but obligatory. If kids' parents caught you spending much class time on anything else, they'd complain to the principal. I can get away with it somewhat at university level, but I'm the one who makes the tests for my classes anyway. Every significant test before university is standardized, standardized, standardized.