The largest mistake we ever made was giving control of child education to the government. My high school got rid of all advanced level science classes a few years before I went there simply because the statistics being reported for the basic level classes were so bad because all smarter and motivated kids skipped those for enriched and advanced placement classes. It was simply to report better average numbers for better funding at the cost of actual education.
That was over 20 years ago...but now I see that common core bullshit they're teaching and it horrifies me. I'm in California and I have a co-worker paying over $15k/year per kid for private grade school for his two kids that are 8 and 10 because the public schools are such a joke here.
Our public schools have failed us. Our kids are now idiots.