With all of the focus on education reform -- no approaches of which seem to be pleasing anyone -- what about this for a consideration: we don't need reform.

I'm not saying the current system is perfect, and I'm not saying to become complacent or apathetic, but in most school systems have we simply come to that end of the rope where the amount of effort necessary to make the system better becomes, well, implausible?

My consideration on giving up on the "all hands on deck, our schools are on the precipice of falling into the crapper" is not, however, based on the feeling that the extra effort is not worth it; it's based on looking at an even bigger picture than education across the US.