> In the early 20th century, our elite decided they could assimilate
> all the troublesome offspring of the immigrants into the American way
> through the schools. It worked pretty well.
I'm not entirely convinced it did work all that well. It's hard to tell, of course, but I wonder whether mass media may have done a lot more to assimilate people than the schools ever did.
For several decades now, the schools have been earnestly trying to inculcate high-minded liberal and civic values -- diversity, tolerance, respect for expertise etc. -- and the result has been a public which takes bloody-minded delight in tweaking its nose at all these liberal palladia.