“In the end, it boils down to parental sloth and stupidity.”
Um, you are aware that some people are poor, aren’t you?
Some people do not earn enough either to pay for a better school or to home school.
And sometimes—just sometimes—it’s not because they are bad people.
Yes, I know about poor people. I also know that many poor people raise perfectly responsible children because they choose to be important and early influences in their lives. I’ll cite my own parents as examples. Show me a school district that’s failing, that’s rife with corruption, that’s a violent, gang-ridden hell hole, drug-infested sewer, and I’ll show you some parents who have checked out. Many such districts also push the notion of early “schools” for the toddlers.
We don’t need to continue beyond this.