Schools We Need: And Why We Don't Have Them by E.D. Hirsch
The only thing more inflated than grades in today's public schools is self-esteem. How a student feels about what he thinks he or she is learning is considered far more important than whether that child is learning anything at all. Considering the millions of public school graduates who can only be described as functionally illiterate, it's apparent that almost half of public school students aren't learning much of anything.
As Hirsch explains, this is because the government's education system is no longer concerned with teaching facts (historical, scientific, grammar, reading & writing skills, etc.). They're more concerned with kids having fun, which ensures no one's feelings get hurt by getting a low grade on a test or writing assignment.
His book makes a strong argument for classical education where content knowledge from core courses like English, math, science and history is emphasized, rather than modern educators' bloated rhetoric of "learning about learning" or teaching "critical thinking skills" when students don't have enough facts to think clearly about anything. It is a fact that public school students who are taught using classical rather than modernist teaching strategies perform better on standardized tests, but the elitists progressives who support these modern strategies will argue that standardized tests only reflect one aspect of what a child is learning. I say these tests also point out what a child is NOT learning, which is all the more reason to support a return to classical education.
And since public schools are controlled by the above modernists, that's not likely to happen, which is why I strongly encourage parents to remove their kids from public schools right now. Put them in a privite or Christian school, most all of which follow classical teaching methods, or you can home school your kids yourself using a classical curriculum. It's not as difficult or expensive as you might think, but it's far cheaper than what it'll cost you to leave your child in the government's care.