...And 'that' is one of the keys to good 'teaching'. The realization that no matter how 'smart' the teacher is, if the student isn't challenged to solve problems, he is in no need of answers.
The REAL SOLUTION to the problems in schools (and homes) is DISCIPLINE with CONSISTENCY.
Giving a child a grade they don't deserve is an injustice to the child and installs in them the belief that it is not necessary to put out any effort, or try to improve, to succeed. This produces adults who believe in entitlement.
The attempt to provide 'uniform' education and grade levels (to qualify for bonuses) is another railroad to hell. The fact of life is that some students are more motivated, and able to more quickly grasp new concepts. If you didn't get good grades in school, it should be because your interest in the subjects didn't grow, you didn't invest the time at home to study, and you failed to follow the teachers instructions.
Some people aren't good at math, or history. So what. If the grading system doesn't reflect the truth, then of what value is it?
There were good teachers, and they usually had the better students. There were middle range students, and there were middle range teachers who still managed to get the basics through by consistency, discipline, and giving the students an honest grade.
Then there were the misfits, and the 'special' teachers who tried to control them until they passed through the system.
It worked pretty good, too.
Nowadays, half the teachers spend their days trying not to get raped, and the other half spend their days trying to figure out how to rape the students. Since the 'performance' skills (therefore the raises, bonuses) of the teacher are based on fitting the students to a pre-mapped curve, then the teachers 'learn' to produce that result.
Once the Unions (organized crime) got involved in the teaching industry, it became all about the money. The students and teachers are just pawns in a game to extort as much cash flow from the financial section of the entire teaching industry as possible.
EVERY American Public School teacher works in bureacratic hell tormented by bizarre parents and toxic students. A place where God is forbidden, forgotten and denied.