As a preschool teacher, I can personally relate to this trend: There are not enough books/materials and supplies for each student to get their own, which forces children to share. Sometimes this is very problematic and overwhelming for both teachers and students. Some children have trouble staying focused, so when one child starts playing while mostly learning, everyone tends to join in, which compounds the problem. Each student should have their own materials for a variety of reasons, but most importantly because every child does not learn the same way. Some may have learning problems, so they start telling jokes to boost their self-esteem. And they hide their inabilities. Another big concern I have about the failure of the school system is that many schools provide learning materials to pass standardized tests, but what does the child actually learn; learning is about not retaining information long enough to pass a test. But what happens when the test is finished or failed, some get discouraged and want to give up on school and drop out. Bly Cities, the 1986 National Education Program Evaluation, “showed particular deficiencies in higher-order reasoning skills, advanced understandings of reading, mathematics, and science, only 44% able to calculate change from a bill from $5 for two items on the lunch menu (page 6.) wow, that's shocking. I have personally experienced this in my family. I have a cousin