No Child Left Behind was a stupid fix, but that doesn't mean it was an ill intentioned fix.

I have actually just found the online text of "The Underground History of Education," and started reading it, but so far am unimpressed and unlikely to finish it. I'm noticing a lot of cherrypicking to support his position, and he doesn't give sources for his assertions at all (I went to the table of contents to look for a bibliography, and couldn't find one, so I did a further search to see if this is the case in the print version and confirmed that the book contains no citations.)

I share his opinion that our current educational system is not well designed to get the best out of its students, but if I wanted to introduce someone to a writer who could effectively explain that point, I don't think I'd recommend him. I'd probably recommend some of Eliezer's essays, or maybe Paul Graham's.