Big Education, just like Big Oil or Big Tobacco, but with out the satisfied customers

I'm working out a concept that the "K-12 Public Education Sector" is more than a mere industry.  It is a unified "business" just like WalMart & McDonald's.  WalMart is the worlds largest company (ranked by Gross Sales) - coming in at $285 Billion.

Big Education rings in at nearly (or just over) $500 Billion in "sales"- dwarfing WalMart, MicroSoft, & GM.

School Districts are "Franchises"

People who go to elite colleges (BUT need no remediation) are its "good product"

People who need remediation before starting College are its mediocre product.

People who drop out are its "rejects"

The massive drop in Functional Literacy are its legacy

(you can all work out the rest of metaphor on your own)

Ask yourself - are you getting what you pay for?  They are selling us "an educated populace" and delivering only about 30% of that promise at an unsustainably high price.  It's time to revoke their monopoly status.