Actually, at least here in Texas, the problem is NOT the teachers, it's how the state mandates the school administrations! It's not "moronic administrators", it's assinine state education agencies which mandate state schools to do moronic things!
It is a fact that there are some classes in which the teacher could hand out the test the night before giving it, tell the students that this was the test, give said test the next day, and half the class would still flunk!
Elementary and middle school teachers are told that if they flunk more than a very small number of kids it will reflect negatively on their evaluations. Said flunkees are "placed" in the next grade, in spite of failure to learn. Young students are taught early on that they do not have to perform to progress! They don't do their homework, they don't study, and the state (based on a Ross Perot plan drawn up without consulting real educators) does nothing more than remove the kids from extracurricular activities (the debacle of "no pass, no play" - a great-sounding idea, but VERY poorly implemented!!), forcing them out of after-school supervised situations and freeing them up to join gangs.
A teacher can have 28 kids in a class, four of which are simply uninterested in anything but disrupting class, and the teacher is blamed for not teaching because 80% of class time is spent dealing with discipline problems - this from proven, seasoned teachers who are known and respected for their classroom control (not "1984" control - simple, fair, classroom good order!).
At the risk of oversimplification, the classrooms of today are a battlefield, the teachers are often being blamed, while the real problem is PRIMARILY that the politically correct educational system refuses to hold students and their parents responsible and accountable for doing homework, studying within reason, and not misbehaving in class and on school grounds!
There is much truth in what you say, however, in my view public (read gov't) education is essentially dead. Reasons?
Teachers unions exchange votes to support those politicians who will maintain the status quo of ever smaller classrooms (as if that really mattered in a zoo enviornment), more money for the teachers, tenure, and little if any competency examination.
Mathematics, chemistry, physics, and the rest of the hard sciences are all but finished as far as public school children moving up are concerned. African studies, "social science" (to funny) and the rest of these essentially worthless non-objective endeavors are the norm....pathetic experiments discarding tried and true curriculaum is rampant: such as phonetic spelling, new math and etc.
My wife and I drove jalopies, gave up exotic vacations, and got all of our four out of the public schools and ultimately through University into meaningful scientific work.
My advice to young parents is to do the same....You can'r beat these self serving b@astards in the education factories of America so take other measures to save your children.....its what parenting is all about.