Nope. To end up in a prison is rather the outcome of a lack of education. Public education may have its faults but the placement of information is for sure not the source of crime and violence. The teachers do not tell those kids to murder or rape.
The problem lies in the American society that is obviously unable to encourage and patronize kids that were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Not those kids are bad, the system that does not provide any equality of opportunity is. I am also no friend of egalitarianism, but you should understand it as a investment into the future to give public schools the means to enable their pupils to have success through solid knowledge transfer. Isn't it your American "Declaration of Independence" that contains the "Pursuit of Happiness"? Love it or hate it, that is a problem that can not be solved with homeschooling or some hypocritical "godly" (sarcasm) advices. Kids (no matter where they come from) need help, ethics and education.
Those cram-full prisons are a shame for America.
Greetings from good old Europe (Lake Constance, Germany) :-)
A.B.
You and I are in complete agreement.
"Love it or hate it, that is a problem that can not be solved with homeschooling".
Disagree. If more kids GOT that sort of time and attention and commitment from their parents, our prisons would be almost empty.
It's the kids who don't get family support that are in trouble. Public school is no substitute for a family with a loving married mother and father.
We've got great teachers and good programs at my local school, where I volunteer. I can tell you almost immediately which kids will do well and which will do poorly. In almost every case, the failure is family related.
BTW, people don't need a "silver spoon in their mouths" to be decent, productive citizens, or to raise good kids. What they need are good standards, lots of love, and the ability to make a lifetime commitment.
The US school system deliberately does not "teach values". Every teacher I have spoken to has assured me of this, that the teaching method and content does not include "Value judgements" of any type. You can see this in the crime stats.
Self esteem is a big deal, self respect is not.
As for kids born with a silver spoon, I think the median income is less than 50,000 USD. Rich silver spoon kids are quite rare. If what you suggest is true then American education ignores most kids.
There is equality of opportunity, but the motivation to get it is lost in teaching entitlement mentality, that a good living is "owed" due to socialist thinking. When the good living is not handed to the kids automatically, bitterness and apathy result.
It is no accident that crime has escalated in this country in concert with the rise of characteristic liberal fashions of governance.