Right. We do agree on what we disagree on.
As I said, your view is that it's the state's responsibility to ensure kids are learning such-and-such. Essentially, your view is that children are wards of the state.
My view is that it's the parents responsibility to educate, whether they pay a school to do it or do it themselves, and the state should just butt out.
You didn't provide details as to why the father was angry at the school and what you meant by "running the streets." So I don't know the whole story.
There's a tendency among people who believe so firmly in public school/traditional school to think a child has to be sitting somewhere working in books for a set number of hours each day. But, a kid could learn in a couple hours what it takes a class a week to cover. So, while I don't let my own kids watch Cartoon Network, for example, in my view, whatever the kid does is the parents' business, as long as there isn't outright neglect or abuse.
Hey, listen, I know a family that lets their kids run the streets 'til late at night making all sorts of trouble. The parents themselves have criminal records, and we see them abusing drugs. But, they send their kids to school. Things got so bad that I myself called Child Protective Services on them, and guess what I was told - that, as long as the kids are in school during school hours, there's no curfew that can be enforced. That's right - the mother could possibly have ME investigated for not sending my children to school, but she can let her kids run around 'til all hours of the night without anyone questioning her.
So, those claims we keep hearing about the state just wanting to make sure children are well-cared-for and well-educated is a joke.
Ok, here's what I meant by running the streets: The father bought no educational material. The father didn't conduct any lessons. The father made no effort whatsoever to educate this child. He merely removed him from school. The child did not work on anything educational for a full year, and returned to school a year behind everyone else.