Some well considered and thoughtful responses here.
Unfortunately this problem is world wide; it's the same here in New Zealand.
Our schools are churning out kids who can't read, write, or do simple maths.
Okay, punctuate this to mean its exact opposite: "A woman without her man is nothing."
Beyond the ability of fully 80% of the kids I've tried it on.
So what's the answer to educating kids?
I don't know, but I'm sure that 'politcal correctness' and 'discipline' are two of the key words.
Too much of one, and not enough of the other.