I find that that statement personifies the difference between conservatism and liberalism at its core: contrasting the glory of better days through more idealist eyes to the glorified potential utopia of the future.
Although more about social values than education, the book "The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap" just came up in conversation recently, and it deals specifically with the way we view the past through rose colored glasses.
Until you hear liberals saying the same things, of course. Listen to them talk about the salad days of FDR or Jack Kennedy. Watch them go on about how every undictated social change is a Problem to be Addressed - or slurp up material like Idiocracy.
There's no overall difference between the two groups when it comes to forward-looking or nostalgic, just how old or cynical the individuals are.
While liberals do often hark back to idealized good old days of big manufacturing, high taxes, unionization and everyone having health insurance, I think it's a little unfair to portray conservatives as idealists looking toward some future utopia. For the most part (libertarian fringe excluded), they seem to simply lack vision of any sort, forward or backward.
