Here in the UK, I think education has regressed over the last ten or so years. I don't think it is quite as bad as what I hear about in the US, but it's not as progressive as places like Finland, which by all accounts has a first-rate system.

Personally, I'm quite a radical when it comes to education. I think homework should be abolished, for the most part. I also think almost all exams should be abolished (though I think certain exams, like the driving test, should remain, for obvious reasons). Instead, students should be assessed on the best pieces of coursework they produce over a period of time. Tests should remain, but for the teacher's reference only, not as a qualification.

Why do I believe this? Because nothing in real life is produced under exam conditions - except, ironically, artistic subjects like theatre, music, etc (stage productions and concerts). But no journalist ever wrote and submitted an article written under exam conditions. No novelist ever submitted a novel written under exam conditions. No scientist submits a paper for peer review that's been written under exam conditions. No architect designs a building under exam conditions, etc, etc. You get the idea.