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The original purpose of public education was to elevate people not dumb them down.

Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, (A)nd if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." - Thomas Jefferson

"A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district--all studied and appreciated as they merit--are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty." Benjamin Franklin

Back in the early 1990’s, I worked for a big bank. They sent us to ‘diversity class’. Probably because the federal government strong armed them.

In ‘diversity class’ we were required to tell the room what our culture was . . . German, Mexican, Italian, whatever.

The instructor laughed and said, “Some people try to answer American. But, America doesn't have it's own culture. So, tell us what your culture is.”

In the early days of this country I’m sure just teaching English was a major role as well; we have no official language because back then a large number of people were German (the largest minority), and it was felt that having English as the official language might dissuade some of them from joining the fight against England (especially considering they had a German-speaking king).

At this point it is primarily daycare (all the way through high school); if your children aren’t in honors-level classes they are learning little - and if they are they are receiving what we would describe as an average education 30 years ago. The other kids are just written off...