There is an article in The American Thinker (h.t. FreeRepublic) that explains just how bad government schools perform relative to their international peers.  A phenomena is described that is one of my pet peeves.  It seems like everyone in American suburbia believes the government school in their neighborhood is great because their kids get good grades.  Well, it turns out they DO get good grades if you compare them to other schools in America.  The problem is they are abject failures when compared to their international peers and even worse when compared to homeschoolers.  This is a great article.  I recommend it highly.