The nation's industrial revolution began after the Civil War. Thomas Edison codified the simple and repeatable process of invention, and off the country went on an inventive joy ride that shows no sign of letting up. Undoubtedly, Edison's greatest invention was the process of industrial research, for equipped with it people can make products and services at will. From his little 1870s research lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey, came the change that would impact every school system in the world--until the 1980s, when later-day engineers would shake the industrial world to its core, and, in doing so, herald the need for a new type of education system. This article discusses how engineers broke the system, and how they have the capability to help rebuild it.