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Agree that parental responsiblity for the "education" of their children is part of the entire process, but it is not the overriding factor. Your draconian solution of taking the children out of the homes of unfit parents is impractical and unworkable.

The major breakdown has taken place in the public school system, which has failed to provide an environment conducive to learning. Unqualified and unmotivated teachers and administrators are not held accountable nor are the students who are passed along from one grade to the next. The quality of education is dismal. Political correctness has affected the curriculum and teaching methods, e.g., sanitized history, no memorization, no tracking (placing students in groups based on their academic ability, required courses,) etc. It is incredible to me educated in the 40's, 50's and 60's, how ignorant current students are about history, government, and basic science. I went to an elementary public school in a major metropolitan area (one of the PS schools with a number) where the students had to wear ties from the 4th grade onwards and the teachers could use corporal punishment on unruly students. We memorized poems, essays, and speeches and even diagramed sentences. The basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic were stressed and had to be mastered for advancement.

If the future of our democracy rests on the current quality of our students, we are in trouble as a nation. We can continue to import the brains and technical skills from overseas using H visas or enabling foreign students to stay, but the very character of our democracy will change without having a basic foundation of common knowledge and beliefs.

homes of unfit parents is impractical and unworkable

The breakdown is the inability of a growing number of children to learn at a peer comparable rate. Yeah, we have to filter out the garbage the ghouls are feeding them, but kids now B.S. when it's jammed into their face, and if they are skilled and smart they'll know Mr. Bonghit is having some real aging crises.

Where that inability is a cultural home issue ... I'm draconian and proud. "You're coming with us, you deserve a real life". This is a COMMUNITY vested interest, and I'm not going to shirk that. You don't read to your child, you don't provide him/her toys and puzzles to stimulate the creative muscle, you don't challenge you child to succeed, you don't discipline your child and you just plop them in front of the TV 365X14 .... yeah, that child is going to parents who are going to do them justice.

If its a language problem, let's address that defecit. If it's a problem with public benefit access, let's address that too. These are political challenges.

The people who run the schools are the same people who are running the family-destroying campaign in the first place. Their not going to say ... "Jahna, you are in 1st grade and you can't identify a single letter or number. Mom, did we F UP royally or what with this kid? Well, let's talk to the teacher and see if we can catch him up in a hurry over the next 14 years."

Kabar, by that time it is too late. Those kids are desperately behing the eight ball and that child is golden, his/her parent is no longer relevant. They AREN'T a parent.