This book gives an answer to the U.S. pre-kindergarten through grade 12 academic crises which are undermining our "American" values, our academic excellence and our U.S. global positioning in the worlds of business, industry, science, technology, and finance. It begins with a chronological examination of the U.S. American education system from 1635 to today, explaining the benefits, limitations, and damages of new and numerous educational trends, fashions, fads, and dogmas that were supposed to have corrected the education system's deficiencies. It highlights a few of the major critics who exposed the catastrophically declining results, bringing attention to the U.S. student's lack of reading, math, and reasoning skills ¿ thus resulting in millions of children (and adults) being left behind ¿ lost ¿ without adequate, life-functioning skills! This has not only put these students individually at risk, but has put our nation at risk ¿ in global business, science, technology, and financial competition.