I remember hearing this one home-school speaker in CA. He was describing the time when he was a middle-public school principal who used to teach in a Christian school and was home schooling his kids.
He said if we think public schools are bad & Christian schools are the answer, we still don't understand the culture we swim in.
He said when he taught in a Christian school, the parents would come into his classroom, interview him, then come away saying, "Yeah, I want my kid in his classroom." But he said they didn't realize who holds the sway in any given classroom:
To paraphrase him he said, "You can take the best Christian kid in the best Christian family in the best Christian school in the best Christian community, and that kid would still rather offend the teacher than he would the peer group in his classroom. I'm not the biggest influence of your child, they are."
You know, I think that the Christian schools are filled by those who enroll their kids to get them "fixed". Many have been kicked out of public school. I have seen many Chrisitan schools start out with the right philosophy and slowly go downhill as they began to try to "fix" the whole community. If I want my kids to have a Christian education, I found out that it has to come from home.
You are hitting on the right areas. Society as a whole has given up any sense of responsibility. Yes, we home school and did it before it became the "in thing" to do. I was also involved in Boy Scouts for many years. You would be surprised at the number of parents who simply came up to me on school nights and asked: "How Much" and "Who Do I Make The Check Out To?" I refused to take it at that time. I had to make them take the time to listen to me. I ran some off, but I always started out with reminding them of how important and precious their young sons were and how they did not know me from Adam, yet were going to let their sons spend many of their growing and formative years with me, a total stranger. Most generally the boys who made Eagle were the sons of parents who took the time to listen, ask questions and make suggestions and most importantly to have the responsibility to become involved.