General attitudes and even the definition of "Education" has devolved in America.  The prevailing attitude now seems to be that if a child attends a "School" for 12 years, they should come out the other side with a good "education".  Our kids continue to fail in proficiency though, so the assumption is that something in the environment, teaching method, neighborhood etc is to blame, and if we can just get the right combination, parents can blissfully send their kids off to school every day, and they will become Educated.
In fact, throughout history, students who have understood what a real education entailed and wanted one, have been able to obtain it with a fraction of the resources thrown at our kids. (in a fraction of the time) The solution to America's education problem is to reorient our schools to demand proficiency before promotion beginning with rejecting papers with spelling and grammar errors until corrected, and requiring correction of homework.