In fact, Al doesn't exist. Most, for example, do not want freedom. They want security, prosperity, bowling, television, and vacations. Having these things, they will accept without demur, without really noticing, the tightening control over the press, the narrowing of political choice, the diminution of influence over schools, the reduction in independence. The trick is to bring these about gradually, by imperceptible steps, in the name of compassion or some similarly marketable virtue.
People care no more about education than they do about freedom.
Schooling both requires work and produces invidious distinctions between those who have it and those who don't. Consequently, most people are happy with schools that provide the forms of education without requiring the substance. Thus the resentment of standardized tests, and the inflation everywhere of grades. Soon everybody will go to college, nobody will have to learn anything, and everybody will get a diploma. People are not opposed to welfare, but to welfare for others.