I think there is a special Hell for those who corrupt children. The NEA has a branch office there. 
Well WT, lodging one's cynicism in things political is the perfect place to lodge it these days. Which historically speaking can be considered "the normal state." (Though generally speaking I confess I don't have a problem with the federal executive at this time.)
All things are "new" to children because they don't have a raft of ways to make their experience "old." That is, by filtering experience through the lens of preconstituted notions that have been "framed up" in the past, and which (especially these days) have been time-tested for political expediency.
That is: from the standpoint of practical politics, the goal is to strengthen the power of more or less self-selected individuals/bodies who somehow feel they have "a mission from (some kind of) god" to rule the rest of us. Children could never conceive of such a notion, the way they engage the world. At the level of typical child perception, the world looks pretty darned "democratic" (emphasize the small-D here. Kids haven't learned how to "classify" yet).
Which seems to be the main point of contemporary "education" -- to remedy the native intelligence and intuition of children, such that they will support "politically (usually called socially) useful" things -- politically useful being understood as whatever strengthens and maintains the status quo; i.e., incumbancy in office.
That is arguably the entire point of "modern" (post-modern and post-post-modern) education: to sort out and classify experience according to the categories of politically useful expediency. What does not serve that purpose is increasingly designated "asocial or antisocial behavior" to be stamped out -- to the greater good of the greatest number of what amounts to a totally abstract humanity.
There's no "flesh and blood" here, let alone any free play for human aspiration or even human dignity. It's just a "numbers game," refereed and umpired according to the preferences/needs of a self-appointed elect, "expert, higher intelligences" who seem to think they are fit to rule the rest of us, and have the power of political coercion to back up their collective usurpation of the dignity of the rest of us. Their goal seems to be self-gratification and/or some other sort of personal gain in the usual case.
And there's no way to stop this run-away train, absent the imposition of moral categories -- the existence of which the enterprising (and usually persuasive) politician denies in the first place. That's the last thing this class of humanity would ever allow to be taught in the public schools.
No wonder you hate this phenomenon, WT. Surely I do.
Thank you so much, WT, for indulging me this evening, in a long-overdue spate of polemics. :^) Thanks for letting me rant. I needed that.
p.s.: It seems to me, WT, that the great antidote to cynicism and depression is to just get out there, into the world of nature, and LOOK. Look as if you're just a kid, seeing it all for the first time -- no preconceived notions whatever. Look and listen to the birds -- how I love the local cardinals and red-wing black birds, not to mention the great raptors, hawks and eagles and owls. Catch the spirit of the breezes bending the trees to their "will," fluttering leaves silver-side out. Listen expectantly to the bull frogs thrumming like banjoes in the pond. Et cetera.
Just LOOK and listen, and take it all in, feel it. God's created nature speaks of His Glory, and renews our spirit. By comparison, these soi-dissant geniuses who claim to rule us look pretty darned puny, ineffectual, and (finally) insignificant, indeed.
I think there is a special Hell for those who corrupt children. The NEA has a branch office there.
Actually, these folks remind one of Plato's "Philosopher Kings," who consider most people to be of the "bronze" variety. The "silver" would probably be counted among the various activists and lawyers who push these things through the courts and legislatures....
Interestingly, Plato realized that his suggested order would have to be based on the "Noble Lie" that the gods have anointed individuals into the various classes of society. The point of it was to convince people to accept their place as a divine assignment. This is basically identical to the "poltically useful" ideas you've described.
This takes us back to the thread from which this one sprouted, concerning Rand's objectivist claims. Those, too, depend on a noble lie, to the effect that Rand's "highest moral goals" are truly objective, and as such we must follow them. (Of course they're not objective at all -- but hey, she had to start someplace, right?)