Reply #50: I just think all these ideas - while accurate -

[cilla4progress]

are nibbling around the edges. The true cause of our undereducated, underachieving youth is

OUR CULTURE JUST DOES NOT VALUE ITS CHILDREN ENOUGH.

From global warming, to nuclear proliferation, to defunding youth services - e.g., education, to our dysfunctional politics...kids aren't stupid! They get the message, and our funding and focus proves the point: we aren't grownups to our children, we (overall, as a society) don't value them as much as we should, and as much as we do material wealth... Hell, 1 out of 5 American children grow up in poverty in the US - among the richest countries in the world.