current state of education locally and nationally

The state of education in N.M. is particularly poor, in my opinion.  Statistically, we may believe this is the case, but the question is why?  I think there are several reasons that have hampered education reform both in-State and nationally.
I would like to see all students in the U.S. given opportunities to be challenged and to excel in setting and reaching goals utilizing their potential.  This is a very exciting time in educational reform, so I see light at the end of the tunnel.  Educators and reformers like Geoffrey Canada, Steven Perry, Jaime Escalante, Michele Rhee, Joel Klein and others have shown, and are showing, the way that underperforming schools and underserved communities can provide opportunities for children who might otherwise "fall through the cracks."  All the above-named have "butted heads" with the unions.
Problems facing schools are fairly complex, but unless new approaches are tried, the usual excuses of poverty, lack of parental and/or community involvement, hidebound resistance to change on the part of the unions, bureaucracy of school districts and so forth, are merely guarantees of more generations of young peoples' futures lost.
Some commonalties also bind the above-named individuals.  All have high expectations of professionalism for teachers, belief in engaging parents and the larger community in the school system, longer days and school years as a means to help children falling behind to catch up, genuine concern and caring for the students in their charge, and last but not least, high expectations of success for these children regardless of external circumstances.
These characteristics and attitudes do matter.  When Mr. Escalante and his associates left Garfield High School, students' math scores plummeted.  Steven Perry is showing excellent results for the students at his charter school in Connecticut.  Geoffrey Canada has expanded the concept of "community school" exponentially to address some of the concerns "beyond schooling" into the greater community, so the caring for students extends beyond the school yard.
Albert Shanker famously said, "When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."  I think we as educators, can be better than that going forward.  If we have such small regard for the children in our charge eight or more hours a day, I don't think we deserve to be called teachers.

central themes that define my life as a student

I went to public schools in Northern Virginia until I came to college at UNM.  I was fortunate to go to schools in an excellent district and I generally liked my teachers, but was not an outstanding student.  When I went to college, I resented being forced to take subjects that were of no interest to me, and took all my electives in my major and minor, so I guess I was a pretty lazy student.  My interest in certain subjects was what motivated me, not external pressures or much of a plan for the future.
Although I subscribed to the idea of a liberal arts education in theory, when it came to practice I did not apply myself, as mentioned above.  As time went on, I began to see the virtue of extreme specialization as a way to become "indispensable" in the job market---but, again, I did not follow through with that either.
In short, my belief is that I had a lot of positive educational opportunities, which I did not fully appreciate at the time.  If given the opportunity for a "do-over" I would definitely take my education more seriously and put forth more effort in excelling as a student.