The government in the USA and in the UK don't really want educated individuals who can think for themselves. They want pliant sheep. People who will be taken in by marketing, the press and politicians. How does one achieve this end?

Cut funding, reduce staffing, oversubscribe schools so class rooms are crowded and teachers are forced to teach to the least abled learner. Strip teachers of creativity and autonomy in composing curriculum that challenges all types and levels of learners by enforcing standards of learning.

Force parents (by inflation, reduced public services, etc.) to seek more hours of work, thereby pushing parents to place children in day care and nurseries at younger and younger ages and removing the influence of parent to prepare the child for social and educational settings so that child become a problem in the classroom and later to society.