I generally agree with your point. However, I live in a small Texas town and my wife's business deals with two private school. If these schools are typical,

I generally agree with your point. However, I live in a small Texas town and my wife's business deals with two private school. If these schools are typical, it is entirely possible for parents to put their children into a worse-by-design school that teaches young-earth creationism and inculcates habits and an anti-social orientation and which breeds awkward, dysfunctional people. On one hand, the state and local governing bodies do mandate a level of quality that can be avoided by parochial schools and on the other hand it is entirely possible for people to actively choose standards poorer than the public ones.