[mysterio]

Having gone through public schools myself, I don’t believe our schools are deficient hellholes. I saw kids (that applied themselves) get great educations, and I saw other kids (who jerked around and never took a book home) fail. Parents were the difference.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Having gone through public schools myself, I don’t believe our schools are deficient hellholes. I saw kids (that applied themselves) get great educations, and I saw other kids (who jerked around and never took a book home) fail. Parents were the difference."

So did I, but I did so back in the 1950's and 1960's. Education has declined drastically since those days. My wife taught for a time at a large university, and the kids coming into the U. were much less well equipped scholastically than either my wife or myself (and neither of us went to any sort of "elite" high school).

But at risk of repeating myself, the HARD DATA of international testing shows beyond a shadow of doubt that the US educational system is deficient compared to the rest of the "developed" world. Our students are much less prepared despite the fact that we already spend vastly more money on the process. "Parental involvement" plays no significant part in that comparison.

[CottonBall]

Having gone through public schools myself, I don’t believe our schools are deficient hellholes.

It's hard to make a comparison if you only have one data point.

I went to school back in the 70s and then saw the education system again in the 90s with a child in school and by teaching for a short while. The dumbing down happened at an incredible pace during those 2 decades. Most involved parents I talk to today are shocked at the degradation and at how little is expected from their children compared to a few decades ago. (BTW, dropping SAT scores and international test scores back this up.)