Commentary In late March, the polling firm Selzer & Co. released the astonishing results of a nationwide survey of U.S. adults: Nearly two-thirds of them said they believed that America’s public schools are headed in the wrong direction in what they teach children. Only 24 percent said they thought public schools were headed in the right direction. The 64 percent negative majority held across sex, race, economic, and educational lines. Two-thirds of men, nearly two-thirds of women, 64 percent of whites, and 63 percent of nonwhites thought public schools were on the wrong track. Some 67 percent of people sharing homes with children under age 18 agreed. The only serious disparity fell along party lines: 83 percent of Republicans polled responded that they thought public schools were headed in the wrong direction, compared with 44 percent of Democrats (still a plurality). This is a serious crisis of confidence in the …