Penny1: You raise a very good point about the emphasis on the "individual" as being a bit troubling--America has lost much of its sense of community, and while individualism is a big part of our national identity, it's not always preferable...
Why do you think government schools are necessary to produce patriotic Americans? I would argue that training children to become “Americans” began its decline with the federal government getting itself involved in the school system. Remember the system we have today we’ve only had since the early 1900’s (I think around the 1930’s, but I may be mistaken).
How on earth did we manage to have good Americans (as opposed to a ragtag nation of individuals) before the federal government got involved? Schooling used to be the purview of the family and the church. That system produced our best thinkers, our best presidents, our best generals, our best inventors, etc.
Today’s homeschoolers are attempting to recreate what used to be an outstanding educational system. A place where children are taught to become thinking Americans, not just cogs in the corporate machine. Children aren’t taught to think in today’s schools, they are being trained to work at a job.
-Kevin