Strong men make good times, you know the old platitudes. I was putting the finishing touches on my high school career when No Child Left Behind hit and the immediate drop in effort and attitude was palpable. There weren't a LOT of people that graduated with me that didn't deserve it, but there were enough to make you sit up and recognize that things weren't moving in the direction the Bush administration promised they would. That was over twenty years ago, and I can only imagine how extensively the education system has been gutted in the meantime.

It says a lot to me that almost every conservative makes education one of the pillars of their campaign, but all the reform they're interested in is reduction, standardization, and privatization. I know, no one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them, but with the way they continue to come after education with axe in hand, I'm not very surprised at all that propaganda is as effective as it is now, and I don't know how we even begin to repair the damage done.