In article , Swingman wrote:

In short, the educational system in this country was originally
instituted to provide an education ... it has now been subverted, mostly
by progressive machinations (union, etc.), to be _primarily_ concerned
with its own perpetuation in current form.

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the
mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed
it as an act of war." -- A Nation at Risk (April 1983)

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

And it has only gotten worse since then.