Education needs to be reformed for the US to become competitive again

The US primary and secondary education systems are not working or
producing students with the basic skills for tomorrow - It's not that
its underfunded by any stretch or comparison - If you have any doubts
look at :

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-ed...red-to-the-res...

The fact is when looking at the results ( with less than 3/4 of
students graduating even with watered down guidelines) it is not
working -

How can one expect the lower rungs of society to pursue economic
advancement if parents and children of the lowest earning 20 percent
of society do not place enough importance on getting at least a basic
level education to pursue skillsets required to do so?

2) Through subsidization of student loans ( which come at a heavy
burden to students of indebtedness), the US government has also driven
up the cost of public and private University/tradeschool options -
Knowing these funds and grants are available has driven costs higher
than the rate of inflation each year for the past 30 years

Coupled with underskilled graduates and undergraduates from the
primary system, and the burden of higher debt from University
graduates, how can the US foster the skills needed to pursue
opportunity?