I am a firm believer that your children get out of school exactly what you put into it. You need to support what the teacher is doing. If you don't show respect for the teacher, your child will not either. If you don't show interest in what you want your child to know, they won't either. If you want your child to learn to write, ask them to write for you. My parents were readers, they expected us to read. So my sisters and I had reading lamps in our bedrooms. My dad was an engineer and designed airplanes, he made sure that we understood the math we did and the importance of knowing how to get the right answer. Our mother taught us to sew, cook and clean. Since my sisters were older, they came home from school and taught me what they learned that day. So by the time I started school I could read, write, add, subtract and multiply.
My sister would tell me that her youngest son is a genius and smarter than his teachers. Really? So why has he never held a job that his parents didn't get for him? Why is he 28 years of age, been unemployed for over 2 years and only able to attend college on the internet in his bedroom, taking only 2 classes at a time? Being a genius may be nice, but putting it to use in the real world is another issue.
As parents and grandparents we need to teach our children the importance of learning and using what we learn to better our lives. My high school history teacher once said, "Nothing is relevant to an ignorant person". We need to have a diverse education to understand and live in this ever changing world.
I have great respect for all teachers. You don't have to put a child into a private school to get a good education, but you do have to be a part of the education process. It's too easy to blame teachers, administrators and others for Johnny not being able to read. But we really need to look into the home, after school care and family.
As you can see that I am rather passionate on the issue, too many people want to push their responsibility on to others and that really bothers me.