It's been a long time since I was in school, but if memory serves correctly, there were plenty of dis-engaged parents in the 1980s, too, but the schools didn't

It's been a long time since I was in school, but if memory serves correctly, there were plenty of dis-engaged parents in the 1980s, too, but the schools didn't seem to suffer the same ills they do today. My wife and I homeschool our kids, but we have very good friends who send their kids to what's considered to be a very good public elementary school. They, as well as other parents, are engaged, even helping out in the classrooms. They speak highly of some teachers, but even with all this involvement, hands are tied by the expectations of the board of education. The kids spend large swaths of their day simply doing worksheets that prepare them for standardized tests. In my experience, parents that really do care often end up taking their kids out of the public school system because, as the teacher in the original article notes, the edicts coming from "on high" really tie the hands of people who are trying hard to care about the kids.