The sad thing is that it is not just a US thing. Most Western countries I can think of, for the last 40 years or so, have managed to ruin their educative systems, making sure younger generations become less and less capable when not plain dumber.

Here in France, I would vote for any party pledging to make it its priority to reform back our educative system to, say, its pre-80s state and promising to keep at bay those assholes (and their moronic ideas) who are still ruining it with each of their new reforms.