Вы как-то смешиваете несколько вещей. Конечно, что-то надо с этим делать. И политическая воля нужна. А вот то, что правительство ничего не далает - неправильно. Since you work for a university, it's a bit strange that you don't know about the need-based scholarships, scholarships for minorities, special programs for woman, and similar. I know less about the secondary education, but I think that, again, there are certain federal-level efforts. No child left behind, to start with. Clinton had some program. As I mentioned before, the feds are really limited in this respect by the Constitution.

I don't think that what is done is enough, far from that. Basically, my views on education are really close to Thomas Freedman's, i.e. to progressives. Yet I am not going to discuss the details of my views with someone who bends the reality to fit their beliefs.