What children need most, to learn anything or everything well, is curiosity. It is also a vital requisite for doing well on grades and tests. But schools systematically squash their curiosity in the name of maintaining order.

I conjecture that teaching a class takes more work for the teacher if the teacher encourages curiosity by answering the children's questions. I further conjecture that the extra work increases with the number of children in the class. Perhaps this is part of the reason why smaller classes are better: because they make it easier for the teacher to answer questions for all the children and avoid squashing their curiosity.

Getting to know people in your neighborhood, building community trust, makes your children safer than hovering over them, while giving them a chance to learn and explore.