The idea that education is an enforced government monopoly in the United States Of America of all places makes me question whether you are aware of the importance of private education in that country relative to public education.
It's not quite an enforced government monopoly, although people choosing private school have to pay twice (pay for the public schools through their taxes and tuition for the private school). There are various attempts, e.g., school vouchers, charter schools, to fix this but the teachers' unions have been fighting them tooth and nail.
The idea that a society being functional equals it being capitalist simply makes me question what you mean by capitalism and functionality: try to taboo those words?
By capitalist I mean free market. By functional I mean provides effective services. Note: my claim is not that societies can't have both functional and non-capitalist elements, rather that for the most part the functional elements will be capitalist and the non-functional ones will be non-capitalist.
Finally, the idea that teachers' unions would get in the way of the improvement of public education strikes me as odd and unexpected,
This doesn't surprise me given the filters you likely get your news through.
and I would like you to develop that point: what do you mean by "fixing" and why are they "obstacles" to it?
By "fixing" I mean making it so that students come out of the schools having actually learned basic math and English skills. A specific reform is making it possible to get rid of incompetent teachers.
By capitalist I mean free market.
What do you mean by free market, exactly?
Effective services
When is effectiveness, and when can a service be qualified as effective?
for the most part the functional elements will be capitalist and the non-functional ones will be non-capitalist
Depending on your definitions of effective and free-market, the existence of Sweden, at the very least, might make you want to question that reasoning.
the filters you likely get your news through
I don't select the media from which I get my news. While the press in general...
I have found this most wonderful (if fairly lengthy) article, and thought you would enjoy having it brought to your attention.
It is so good, I think we should include it among the references in the "Politics is the Mind Killer" wiki page. But, before that, I submit it to you, and ask you: is there anything in this article that would warrant its exclusion from this site? I mean, besides the fact that it is about politics, and written by a notorious Social-democrat (And is that in itself grounds for exclusion?).