Claims

On the SAT college admissions test, the gap between typical test scores of children in the top 5% of income and middle-class children is approximately 250 points, while the gap between middle-class and below-poverty-line children is approximately 125 points, meaning the rich-middle-class gap is twice as large as the middle-class-poor gap.

The education system for the median student is primarily structured around making students do things they don't want to do and achieve goals that aren't theirs, rather than helping them achieve their own goals more effectively.

Virtually everyone in education is focused on the bottom quartile performing students (not the median) because of equity arguments—they want to provide opportunities others had—and because marginal impact is greater for struggling students than for those already doing fine.

Connecticut, the second richest state in the country, has 22% of high school students who have either dropped out or are failing with absenteeism rates greater than 25%, illustrating a structural productivity crisis even in wealthy regions.

In Georgia, 70 percent of children do not read at third grade level, a statistic that has profound implications for the state and individuals involved in terms of educational attainment and lifetime outcomes.

Children not reading at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to not graduate from high school; children severely behind in reading are six times more likely not to graduate.

Public school failure is deliberately maintained, not accidental, because some portion of the population doesn't want other people's children to be educated well enough to compete with their own children.