Time to Nationalize the Educational System

The following statistics are from the National Institute for Literacy: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/facts/facts_overview.html

In the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) assessment, 1994-98:

The average composite literacy score of native-born adults in the U.S. was 284 (Level 3); the U.S. ranked 10th out of 17 high-income countries;
The average composite literacy score of foreign-born adults in the U.S. was 210 (Level 1); the U.S. ranked 16th out of 17 countries.

In the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) assessment, 1994-98:

The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with primary or no education, ranked 14th out of 18 high-income countries;
The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with some high school, but no diploma or GED, ranked 19th out of 19 high-income countries;
The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with a high school diploma or GED (but no college), ranked 18th (tie) out of 19 countries;
The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with 1-3 years of college, ranked 15th out of 19 countries; and
The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, ranked 5th.

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These statistics show very clearly that we have a literacy crisis on our hands. I believe that literacy is a basic human right! The educational system needs to nationalized! Since we are underperforming the other industrialzied nations, the government needs to take over our education system - immediately!

But, uuuhooooh, wait, wait, the educational system is already nationalized! The government is already running it! So, how come we are not doing that well compared to other industrialized nations? How is this failure possible? I thought that "government run" is a recipe for complete and utter success!

Now, do you still think we ought to nationalize health care? Should we, really?