Without any doubt at all teacher quality is the fundamental differentiator. Not just incidentally of education but I would argue probably the biggest single differentiator of success for the nations of the 21st Century.
In America now let us - Christian Jew Muslim agnostic atheist wiccan whatever - fight nativism with the same strength and conviction that we fight terrorism. My faith calls on its followers to love one's enemies. A tall order that - perhaps the tallest of all.