I would actually go farther and say we should merge the current K-12 into 11 years instead of 13, and make every student complete an associate degree by the age of 18.

The current system of K-12, especially in the US, has always been way too padded. The advent of the internet and readily available educational materials has accelerated this exponentially. A child born today would be shocked to hear that I learned C++ by driving to a far away building and checking out a dead tree with ink on it. That same child should be equally shocked that we can't expect him to learn actively at home and in the classroom faster than his grandparents did, who had a sliver of the access to information of modern generations.

I saw first hand what this could look like. My parents were not affluent enough to send me to a private school, but they were affluent enough to move to a area in New Jersey with a very well-funded public school system. We had a sister community college that had a great reputation, and as a option for upperclassmen who skipped grades or took courses early, they could drive the community college and take classes instead. We actually had one student my senior year who got an Associate Degree before his High School degree.

Personally I took 2 summer math classes and 2 programming classes at this college, and the difference between the CC and High School was stark.

- Professors didn't have to babysit: If you acted out, you got kicked out. No discussion.

- You self-selected to other like-minded individuals who were both interested and aggressive about learning the material in the class.

- Teachers could actually teach without dealing with school board restrictions or materials.

- Funding policies actually made sense since the entity managing them wasn't completely government run.

- You could treat the students like adults, and not have to worry about discussing controversial material, or that a parent would helicopter in and threaten to sue the school.

This whole process made me a lot more excited for college. It also showed me there was so much more material out there than what I thought about in High School. I think this process should be funded, and eventually mandatory, otherwise the US will find itself behind.

I remember a Star Trek TNG episode (I can't recall the number) where a parent was chasing a 10-yo child for skipping class. The child complained casually that he didn't want to learn Calculus. We may never get that far for every child, but I dream of a world where a brilliant 10-yo could get that far if he wanted to.

Part II.

To continue my rant, I actually think the Obama Administration is smart in how it is executing on this issue.

In the US, the execution of compulsory education happens at the state and local level. Local governments get to decide how "important" education is to them, specifically with their budgets. On the plus side, this helps us avoid the (potentially republic-damaging) process of convincing 316 million people that the federal government is the best entity to handle child education (and create a massive bureaucracy to boot). On the downside, as a country we are dropping the ball in preparing the next generation to be solid competitors in the global marketplace.

When this problem last came up it was during the cold war, specifically after Sputnik launched. There was a massive, national push to make more students in tune with modern education, which resulted in the passing of the National Defense Education Act [1]. Basically, it required a existential crisis in order to motivate the US to seriously fund education nationally.

Now, 50 years later, I'm continually blown away when I discuss education with my colleagues who grew up abroad. In European (especially ex-soviet bloc) countries, India, and Asia, education is significantly more rigorous and highly valued, which results in a significantly more prepared workforce.

I like, or hope, to think that in case the Obama Administration sees the same thing. Specifically:

- We are now 17th in global education ranking [2], and even lower in Math and Science [3]

- In the rapidly globalizing economy, this gap in education is now a national security issue

- Other up-and-coming economies all have much deeper cultural values for educations, with a national government that reflects it.

- Federalizing the system (ala West Wing Season 7) is too drastic, and will never pass congress anyway

- Our one massive advantage, our higher education system (which is the envy of the world), specifically the relatively affordable community colleges, is being underutilized.

By taking federal funding and pumping it into a solution that is reasonably affordable, partially shared with the states, and bypass the State and local governments, we are essentially doing what educational reformers have always dreamed we could do: Fund education like we do the military.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Education_Act

[2] http://www.ibtimes.com/us-17th-global-education-ranking-finl...

[3] http://www.businessinsider.com/pisa-rankings-2013-12