On the issue of education, I believe my hero Stephen Colbert put it best when in an interview with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, he asked point blank, “Why can’t we leave children behind?” There is something wrong with America when even conservatives like George Bush believe every American child should have a college degree regardless of their ability, needs or interests.

Now, in regards to which politician, McCain or Obama, has the better education plan, I might as well flip a coin. Both of them are approaching the problem from a flawed premise. We seem to have reached a point in America where both parties view education as some sort of entitlement program. Like with social security, which every politician wants to protect, even if it has become a problem itself.

As Bob Schieffer pointed out while moderating the third presidential debate, the United States spends more per capita on math and science in schools than any other country in the world. Our high school graduation rate stands at roughly 70 percent, and a quarter of our population has some kind of college education. Yet, in many of the hard sciences, our nation significantly lags behind the rest of the first world.

This is particularly perplexing when you consider that in 1910 only 10 percent of Americans had a high school diploma, and even fewer than that had ever attended college. Yet, the 1910 generation included Henry Ford, the Wright brothers and Thomas Alva Edison. In the 50 years since 1910, America has produced some of the greatest scientists, doctors, politicians and military leaders in all of human history. Since we became obsessed with making sure no child gets left behind, our nation’s collective intelligence has been heading downhill.

The reason for this difference is stark and obvious. In 1910, Americans cared more about merit than they did about a college degree. Today they care more about a college degree than they do about merit.

The desperate desire for people’s advancement has institutionalized mediocrity at every level of America’s education system. After I left my high school, I was appalled to learn a mandatory advanced placement class had been created for all sophomores. Apparently no one considered that an advanced placement class is self-contradictory if every student is in it. I know students in high school who should never have graduated due to their number of absences. Not only did they graduate, but the students also managed to get into the UW, which is supposedly one of the best institutions of learning on the West Coast. The effects outside of the school system are palpable. My father, a Boeing engineer, often rolls his eyes when speaking of the woeful unpreparedness of new Boeing employees coming out of college who, even after four years of education, still have no idea how to function in the working world.

There’s not much the government can do to solve this problem other than tell the American people the truth. To improve education, we have to slowly grow out of this mentality that every child should graduate from a four-year university. If you can learn more about engineering in one year as an engineer, why spend four years as a student?

Colleges should exist, as they originally existed, for the purpose of educating those interested in jobs that require higher education, such as law and medicine. High schools should be geared toward helping kids find a job, but neither McCain nor Obama will say that. They know, as I know, that the American people just don’t want to hear it.

Reach columnist John Fay at opinion@dailyuw.com.