Well, I would just get my dragon to address the growing divide.  For like my dragon, the growing divide is a myth.  As is poverty in America.  But they do make good campaign speeches and sound bites, but little else.

But education?  Perhaps we should take a radical and new approach.  The first step is to admit that not all children are headed to, eligible for, or want to go to college.  And that many of the jobs out there do not require a college education.  There is no shame in being a good auto mechanic.  In some ways I respect mine far more than I do my doctor (and I dont say lawyer cause I have no respect for them).  My plumber is another example.  An honest man that can fix my issues with ease - something that I am not capable of.

There are many trades that are decent paying (unless you run your own business, you will not be a go-zillionaire), that need to be done, that do not require college.  So once we admit that college is not for everyone, lets start a real (not second thought) effort to bring those trades into our education system.  And stop forcing "Algebra II" on those who are never going to look at a balance sheet in their life.

Once we do that, we can then devote resources to those who want to go to college (again due to the education system, these students are really given short shrift), and prepare them for it.  It would cut down on College drop outs, while allowing resources to be targeted for what matters for the students, instead of treating everyon one like they were the next Arnold Einstein, or Martin Buffet.

This is not the whole answer, just a point to begin the discussion with.

I d say lets look back in history and look to George Washington Caver's Tuskgee aproach, which is basicly what you said Dr Guy. 

They are also making college educations a requirement for jobs that most likely don't need it.  My grand father is an old steam pipefitter foreman with an eight grade education, a job he can do today if he wants to, yet to get the job today you need a four year degree.

I agree that there is a certain sense of shame applied to professions that don't require a college degree - suprisingly tech support can be one of those. My only concern would be someone going down a certain track then deciding to change to another track - like someone considering autorepair takes an EMT class and wants to a be nurse or doctor.

There has to be some mobility in the system. I think the challenge inherent to the pre-college education system is preparing people for that mobility. Personally, I think that the most important math might be statistics, and that a large portion of classes dealing with literature can be replaced by economics and some sort of writing analysis class.

Imagine a citizenry armed with even basic understanding of American law, economics, and statistics? That would make politicians likely quiver in their boots...

Nitro Cruiser - I agree that there needs to be more results oriented education. Getting kids to love Shakespeare and music seems to be at best a secondary concern when China and India have more honor students than the US has students. Now we've managed to "brain drain" other countries of engineers and such for some time, but more and more international students seem to like the idea of returning to their homelands and working there.

Time will tell, but I fear the deficit of the scientifically minded American child will only curb the US's power. And I think liberal or conservative, it's important to realize that while the US is an imperfect world policeman, we are a far far better one than India or China would be.