Stuff that works, when it comes to education, is pretty well defined, I think. First, students must put in a FULL day (minimum 8 hours) of school a day, 5 days a week, with no summer vacation. The second thing is that money for school should be attached to the student and the parent then have the right, and obligation, to make sure that the child attends the best school available, based on its past success. This has worked in every country it has been done in.
What I find interesting is that none of the above seems to be open for discussion. Instead we have teacher unions supporting cheaters and, generally, a failed system of education. We have government spending more than virtually any other nation on this failed system of education. Best of all we have, in many cases, parents supporting the failure! Please note, they only room I have left for parents is to decide on the school then they should just get the hell out of the way (I am not a big supporter of parent involvement in education).
I guess I should also mention that even though we are spending all this money on a failed system, in many cases the physical schools are also falling down, there is a lack of supplies and books, etc. so, I guess, the other main expense is bureaucracy and teachers. What this seems to mean is that the current system is just screwed.
On the other hand we have some of the best higher education in the world. Those institutions educate many foreigners and aliens which we then throw out of the country. This, in turn, means that many of our own companies must setup, say, in Canada, which tends to only care that folks are working and paying taxes - we have higher, more moral, standards.....
