Has it ever occurred to you that the people who educate our children might in fact deserve to be to some extent an elite?
That's a really good point, we all talk about the old days, when teachers was respected. That people forget was that the teacher was usual the best educated man in the community and often one of the most well paid too. A lot of the loss of respect for teachers have been the result of the move of teachers from well paid elite to low wage (at least for people with their education) public servant, the falling prestige also result in teachers have stopped being recruited among our best and brightest and have moved to recruit from the average students instead. If people want the old values and better education back in the schools, they need to start paying teachers a wage, which give it something of its old prestige back.
...and I say we because this isn't a unique American problem, it's something which exist in the entire West
