[Law]

50 years of gov't intrusion into public schools has indeed done the damage intended

Actually, the damage began more than 100 years ago...

[SAJ]

More than 50 years ago, for certain. 100? Don't know about that. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the average American was at his **most** literate around 1915 (wish I could post that commentary, but I can't, sadly).

The 1950s were the years that the rate of decline in the ed system began to accelerate, when that b&st&rd Dewey's idiotic notions began to be accepted wholesale. The 1960s brought the start of increasing unionisation, and it's been straight down ever since, for the most part.