There’s an entire thread on here about Jimmy carter creating the department of education in 1979. In the over four decades since while other countries got better at reading, writing and arithmetic we decided other things we’re more important. Our test scores are really no better than they were in the 60’s which is hard to do especially when the standards continue to be lowered to make it fair. There are countless stories about how entire classes of kids can’t read or write after finishing a year of school.