For Whom the Bell Fails

According E.G. West's classic book, "Education and the State", in 1880 (the first year of compulsory education in Great Britain), over 90% of 15 year-olds in England were fully literate. Contrast that to 110 years later when 40% of 21 year-olds in England had difficulties reading and writing. To say that the public education system has served the people in England is at the very minimum debatable and quite possibly a joke/tragedy.