There are innumerable problems in America’s educational systems. One is that the gap between the higher performing students and the lower performing students in all areas (including humanities, arts, and sciences) is increasing. Another is that educational systems, spurred by taxpayers who don’t want higher taxes, have learned not how to effectively cut expenses but have sacrificed education by packing more students into a classroom; almost every study (including the PISA testing) shows a link between class size and educational achievement.

Of all the mildly liberal, media-genic proposals that peppered President Barack Obama’s state of the Union Address, one seemed especially designed to withstand curmudgeonly criticism from the Right: universal preschool. The image of millions of young tots learning their ABCs and fingerpainting is hard to demonize as evil Big Government.

It’s always entertaining to read Robert Samuelson’s columns on Monday mornings. They are so deliciously orthogonal to reality. Today’s column, asking whether America is in decline, is another gem.

In the governor’s mansion in Brownbackistan, there is wailing and gnashing of teeth this morning. In the offices of many school districts across the state, there is much rejoicing. The reason? A state district court ruled that the schools of Kansas have been shortchanged by the ultraconservatives in the state legislature of the constitutionally-required money to provide a decent education to the children of the state.

The way the district court made its point was to point repeatedly to those pesky things that Stephen Colbert rightly noted have a liberal bias: facts. And they pointed them out with great style and elan, taking deliberate aim at the Governor and his minions.

Yes, it’s time again for an episode of “Might Makes Right” and “Majority Rules.” The trouble began when the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent Superintendent Phil Howard a letter pointing out that a portrait of Jesus (on display in the public school since 1947, donated by a Christian student group) was an “egregious violation of the the First Amendment.”

Boy, this is a bad idea on so many levels. Teachers are already in high-stress positions — imagine dealing with middle-school-age, hormone-racing kids all day for one thing. Add on the responsibility of being in charge of your firearm, to keep it safeguarded yet accessible on the chance someone is going to come in randomly guns-ablazing? It sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, but apparently we’ve got states ready to go forward with this “plan” to address gun massacres in schools.

A Superior Court judge has ordered the City of Newark to release emails that were exchanged about the $100 million pledge that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made to Newark schools in September 2010.

Stories like this make me sad and curious — how many people in the U.S. are as intellectually challenged as this man? Has the nation been so dumbed down that it’s not difficult to come across countless stories of jack@ssery like this just casually surfing the news?

In a bizarre press conference, NRA Chairman Wayne LaPierre called for the immediate placement of armed guards in all public schools. This is classic “fighting the last war” thinking, along with a dash of “think of the children” policymaking.

Student debt was a prime motivator for the Occupy movement. Some real oversight in higher education costs would go a long way toward driving that problem back down. But the easy accessibility to lending should raise concerns as well.