Some general observations:

1. I am astonished that what I thought was a standard educational system funded at a federal level is in fact funded very variably depending on the wealth of the local community.  The educational needs of the young don't change by wealth (if anything they change inversely with wealth) and the future wealth of the USA, both socially and economically depends on having a good educational system for all.

2.  I am astonished that even those things which can be measured - e.g. literacy and numeracy - are failing so badly.  I would have thought that a metrics dominated society could at least have gotten those things right. (before we even get into the more qualitative artistic, musical and social skills)

3.  I am astonished that even conservative politicians/administrators don't see the link betweena good educational system and future success for the society as a whole.

When I went to secondary school, it was generally only the better off middle classes who were able to afford, or were socially conditioned to send their kids all the way through secondary school.  Higher education was regarded as something for the "better offs" and only a small relatively privileged minority went on to third level.

Standards we generally pretty low as many of the brighter kids had already been selected out by economic/social means and there was little competition for places and jobs for the remainder.

However the Government introduced (at least nominally) free education for all at around the same time, and great emphasis was placed on the need for all kids to achieve a much higher level of eduction if Ireland was to pull itself out of the third world backwater it was in at the time.

The numbers in secondary education soared.  Even families with no background in education placed great value on their children "bettering themselves" through education.  Standards soared.  Competition for third level places expanded exponentially.  The third level sector also expanded hugely so that the vast majority of students now achieve some kind of third level qualification.

When I went to school we prided ourselves in our ability to subvert teachers and the teaching process.  "Swots" were ridiculed.  It did not pay to be too clever. The messers were celebrated. Much of the teaching was atrocious.

My kids had to achieve far higher standards than I to reach University.  They routinely complained about teachers who didn't put in enough effort or who didn't challenge their classes to excel.  Generally they enjoyed school more than I did even though they had to work much harder.

25 years after this educational revolution began those that had had the advantage of much more widespread and improved education reached their occupational prime and the Celtic Tiger was born.  Education was perhaps the single most important causative structural factor.  Ireland was transformed from a third world to a first world economy (present difficulties notwithstanding).

The Irish educational system now has a lot of problems, but no one doubts how central it has been to our success.  It is generally compared very favourably to the UK system by those who know both.  Teachers in Ireland are paid some of the highest salaries in the world (€32-62K for a secondary teacher) and that has left many other parts of the system underfunded.

But the history of the past 40 years in Ireland is a tribute to what can happen if you give kids a chance - and the incentive - to excel.  Why has the US experience been do different?

notes from no w here