schools today, are they better?

I remember when I was a kid, going to school would mean playing with my classmates, drawing and coloring pictures, clapping at my teacher's drawings and a lot of singing and memorizing nursery rhymes. I would have homework maybe once a week, I remember that because I know that after school, I would be playing with my neighbor.

But when my eldest child was in Kindergarten (she skipped Nursery, so did I), I was surprised ti find out that they were already studying the parts of the flowers and leaves. If I recall correctly, I think that was in our curriculum in third grade. And now that she is in first grade, Roman numerals is what she keeps on babbling about.

I was even more surprised when my second child, who is now a Nursery pupil, came home with an assignment about "go, glow and grow" foods. I know I studied that in elementary, I wasn't able to really understand the topic until later, so how can his little mind really understand the concept of this?

Both of my kids come home with at least one homework EVERYDAY.

Are the minds of small children now evolved? Is that why they have more complicated topics at school? Is the educational system better now than in my days? Or are they just trying to be but really not doing any good?