Pete Brown is one of my favorite beer writers (though of late, mostly focused on the new prohibitionists). His three books are great and this POST really looks at the beer vs wine issue from a fresh vantage point. I strongly suggest reading it and then buying his books.
Personally, I think the first step in beer education may have nothing to do with beer. It is educating people on food and drink and how they play with and enhance each other. And even that comes after educating people on real, whole food. Once people understand these basics, they can made informed decisions based upon what really makes their particular palate sing.
Until then people will be staring at the wine and beer choices with a dazed look and just pick the cheapest because if the choice is bad at least it’s cheap. We as beer writers need to continually push to open up beer minds but we can’t overlook the forest for our favorite tree.