"How are you going to mandate it?"
You're absolutely right. It would work with children whose parents were raised in a proper atmosphere and, as a result, are normal people. It won't work in today's atmosphere where parents are distracted and detached. Far too much "facebook" and "myspace," you understand.
As for mandating it, there are always the police and social workers who probably do their best to minimize the societal damage. A recent case in point is the jailed mother of a child who can't be located. I believe that her name is Kaylee and her mother's name is Casey. As far as I can determine, the mother of this child offers zero cooperation in finding her missing child. If there was ever a case of self-absorption and lack of parental responsibility, it is typified in this woman.
Notice that the article is by WorldNetDaily, so it's a bit biased and sensationalized...but there was a lot of discussion that the government would be overstepping their bounds, even though on most threads about schools in low-income areas, the majority of FReepers agree that what those students need is more involved parenting...
I see the point about not getting the Feds involved, but what are you gonna do?