I don't think parents are afraid of teaching their kids the wrong stuff so they teach them nothing at all. Parents are too lazy or too occupied to spend time with their kids because their too busy playing with their ipads, etc. I'd venture to guess there are more children today being raised by a television than by parents. Anyone ever watch families travel while driving down the interstate? Instead of talking to their children, all I see is the kids in the backseat with their eyes glued to a movie while the parents are hanging on their cell phone. Social correspondance such as twitter, facebook, etc. isn't as big as it is because parents are actually spending time with their kids.
There are bad teachers, and tenure makes it virtually impossible to get rid of them. However, our education system is messed up primarily because of lack of parent involvement much more so than because of the big bad gov't. Sam probably does have a legitimate point about parents doing a poor job because gov't has somewhat attacked the cohesiveness of the family unit, but gov't direct involvement in education isn't why our education system is lacking. Throwing more money at the problem isn't going to solve it either. Until the family unit does a much better job of raising kids, our education system is going to remain subpar.
If the education system didn't have to spend so much time trying to educate kids on sex, drugs, etc.; they could spend more time teaching more important skills. I've often times wondered why there is even drivers education in school. Again, parents should be the ones teaching their kids how to drive.
