"In 2004, China graduated 500,000 engineers, and India graduated 200,000 engineers, while the United States graduated only 70,000 engineers.
Until the 1950s education cost practically nothing; and the United States had a literacy rate of 90 percent or better. Today, the District of Columbia spends over $13,000 a year per student; and . . .
Less than 50 percent of American high school students graduate as proficient readers.
Less than 15 percent of American high school students graduate as proficient mathematicians.
In 2006, only 60 percent of high school seniors graduated."

The state of the American education system.