Where to start?

"When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all.  And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none, I can read the writing on the wall."

~Paul Simon

I know just enough about modern education in America to get myself into rhetorical trouble.  I know that Democrats bring it out every two years to grandstand on the issue and then store it carefully back on its shelf every November 8th.  I know the GOP likes to piss all over the teacher's unions and blame the parents of "those poor underprivileged kids" (read: non-white) while criminally underfunding even their own education programs. I know that the teachers' unions have backed themselves into a nearly indefensible corner by demanding unbreakable contracts while simultaneously structuring pay so as to ensure no teacher has the incentive to do anything other then keep their head low and asses covered.  I know that parents don't have the tools they need to help their kids get an education because they were never taught how to learn (or teach) when they were in school.  I know that the attitude and principles behind the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are charming on paper and utterly idiotic in practice.  

There are no easy political fixes to these problems.  In fact, it's hard to imagine a political climate in my lifetime under which any serious fixes could be implemented.   The parties involved are too deeply entrenched and the financial incentives involved are large.  Not to mention the fact that kids don't vote and their parents are too busy voting on the economy or how that man from Texas makes them feel safer from the scary brown man from someplace overseas.  The only time you campaign on education reform is when you're running for the school board.  

And really, that's an excellent model for our entire system of government.  The government is run by those who get elected.  Those who get elected do so because they choose to campaign on the issues we care about.  The issues we care about get manipulated by the media and the elected officials.  As the roles (and strengths) of the media and the elected officials have merged over the past three or four decades, education and domestic responsibilities have faded as issues and given rise to fear mongering about foreign boogey men and gay marriages that eat small children by the handful.  When Sarah Palin grammarless-ly announces on Facebook that Osama bin Laden is gay, then you'll know we've reached the End.  

If that cycle is to be broken, then we Americans are simply going to have to learn how to determine what we care about without being told by the television.  Until then, this poor bloke's ideas are absolutely lovely but falling on idle and ill-prepared ears: