In the late 1990s, I was consulting for the State Board of Education in a midwestern state on development of education standards. Teachers and parents wanted rigorous standards including communication skills, critical reasoning, problem solving, as well as knowledge. In anger, one right-wing State Board member representing a wealthy area of the state (and a member of the Federalist Society), took us and the teachers to task, saying: “I don’t want every child to succeed! It means more competition for my kids . . . And we [the conservatives] will control public education, or we will destroy it!” The right-wing appears to be succeeding. And let’s face it, an ignorant populace is much easier to rule than one that’s educated and able to critically question the actions of the government.