This is what lower standards buys us.

       I am not, I repeat, not talking about politicians.  I know, the title suggests it, but I assure you, I am talking about school.
       Back in your grandparent's day, colleges and universities had entrance exams.  Each college has it's own.  In a time when a fourth grade education was enough to land you a job where a single income could support a family, college was something for the privileged few.  If you couldn't pass the entrance exams your family better have enough money to donate a new science wing, or you didn't get in.  This preserved the school's reputation, and kept out the people out who wouldn't pass anyway.  There was rampant racism, and sexism.  This was not a perfect system, as some of the best and the brightest were denied an education that could have benefited us all.
       By the time our parents were of age to go to college there were more options.  One could earn a "Basic liberal arts" degree, and land a good job based on this "qualification".  Schools were still using tests, and there was some sexism, and some racism, but this was offset by affirmative action programs.  Student loans were not yet the predominant method of paying for education.
       By the time we get there, college is widely available, hideously expensive, and financed with loans.  This is because the average tuition over the last few decades, has increased at four times the inflation rate.  This is not simply adjusting to reflect the value of a dollar, nor is it merely covering costs.  
        Despite the number of colleges available to the average student, and the availability of an online option for nearly all of them, costs have risen.  Let me see if I remember the law of supply and demand from school.  Hmm... as supply increases, costs decrease?!  That means that colleges are somehow immune to supply and demand.
       Since the 40's there has been more than a six-fold increase in the number of people attaining four-year degrees; and many more college choices, and yet the cost of each degree is RISING, relative to inflation. (http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/us-education-attainment-from-1940-2008/)  This means that the people who are obtaining degrees are not merely the rich or gifted, as it was historically.  Rather, the defining characteristic of a college graduate today is the willingness to bankrupt themselves with student loans.  Intellect has little to do with it anymore.
       Since we have lower admission requirements, we needed to lower the difficulty of obtaining a degree.  That cheapens the value of each degree.  With a degree worth less, the earning potential of a graduate is less, relative to where it was in the past.  Still better to have a degree than not, but it no longer makes you anything special.
       Forget a national healthcare program.  Let's work on "free" education, based on ability, for as long as someone cares to pursue it.  (you can even use the same arguments, "It's a right", "They do it in Europe successfully", etc...)  We need to prioritize education.  Actual education.  We are currently importing engineers, and are churning out business majors.  Which of those innovates?  Which of those creates new products?  Which of those drives economies?  And which one: "Collaboratively synergizes new opportunities, while leveraging market position for maximum stockholder value"?
       (Can you smell that?)