@cobrat, sure, but the genesis of the system was in the early 18th century. The ideas of the industrial revolution were incorporated later in the 19th century, but the mechanism of community based finance remains much the same. The initial systems served settlers primarily in rural communities, but by the latter half of the 19th century there was a massive influx of immigrants which mandated more factory-like methods. At that time the mandate expanded to provide quasi-literate, compliant, factory workers in urban areas rather than literate citizens in rural areas. It wasn’t done just because of rising demand from an increasing population.
It was also uncommon for students to progress much past 8th grade until the 20th century. If you look at some of the source documents of what was actually taught in 8th grade - say, in the 1920s, they resemble high school texts today, so arguably, we are producing a similar educational outcome with 4 more years of expense. Perhaps that is because so much of the school day is spent on non-educational items. Home schoolers seem to manage all of their work in 3-4 hrs/day, why does a public school student take twice the time for the same tasks?
The NEA in its early years actually advocated for better schools and more professional teaching methods when it mostly represented school administrators. At the same time it also advocated for federal funding of education, which violates the 18 enumerated spending powers of the constitution. Is it any wonder, as the NEA morphed into a union representing almost entirely teachers, that the teaching of Civics and American history was revised to reflect that bias?
Now the NEA is like any other public sector union - it mostly protects its members and helps elect politicians that vote them pay/benefit increases. I am not criticizing the good teachers - I think they are underpaid. However the bad and average ones are overpaid and union rules stifle innovation. Vouchers are a way out of the captive, expensive, inefficient and ineffective public system.