I think David made an interesting point, but Dale's reply also gave food for thought.  Having come from very lower middle class in a small town, I feel that I know that group well.  In my experience (as Dale noted) efforts by the more educated class to force higher standards beyond the "Three R's" are sometimes viewed with suspicion.  (I don't agree).  However, having some young school-aged children and a mother who is a teacher has given me the viewpoint that the biggest educational problem in the USA is not the schools nor how much money is spent on them.  Rather, there is a real lack of educational curiosity (far pre-dating the Bush Administration) that is I think a by-product of two or three generations of American feelings of "supremacy."  It's almost hard-wired into us by the Cold War mentality of the free vs. un-free peoples and the realities (and myths) of the American Dream.  In the best moments, I think such thinking has served us well.  In the worst, it has contributed to a complacency that is very dangerous.  I don't think the problem has a state-sponsored solution.  Only a groundswell of parental involvement to better education will work, and I think this won't come until we have some sort of crash landing or depression. 

The liberals want a return to some sort of Command Economy, which is ludicrous and without any historical merit.  But the conservatives are complacent and in many cases ignorant.  What to do . . .