Some issues I've thought of,
not already mentioned, that have contributed to the decline of education in the US
REASONS:1) Availability of New Careers for Women - Until the 60's, most (certainly not all) women had a limited choice of career: nursing and teaching. And the very bright women excelled at these careers. Yes, there were some women that had other careers, but until the end of the "Ward and June Cleaver age" , there was not a strong concept of a "male-nurse". And yes, during the war, there were women welders, and everything else (most lkely the start of the decline of the traditional family) but after the war, things returned closer to status quo. During the 60's, women decided to put off having children, and become Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, etc. So the really "bright" women were no longer going into teaching, but on to bigger and better careers. Thus, the quality of teachers began to become diluted.
2) Decline of the Traditional Family - Education started to dwindle around the 60's. This is the same time that women started to move out of the house and into the workforce. In my opinion, the concept of a stay-at-home mom (SaHM) has contributed significantly to the decline of a child's education. SaHM used to be much more involved in what their kids were doing (or not doing, as is the case of homework), with whom they were doing it, and provided and enforced consequences for lack of stellar academic performance. The neighborhood moms banded together, in the "battles against their kids".
So you can call me a "sexist pig" or whatever, but growing up, every mother in my neighborhood was a SaHM except three: the teacher, the nurse, and the cafeteria lady (a former SaHM). What MY mom didn't catch me doing, my neighbors did...and I got in JUST as much, if not more, trouble. I was held accountable for my actions and suffered the consequences. In some cases today, people don't eve KNOW who their neighbors are...
The two-income family has created the "latch-key" kids, who come home to an empty house and are on their own for several hours. Again, there are always exceptions, but I believe the "norm" has switched from "SaHM to Working Moms". I am not putting down families that have working moms (ya DO what cha gotta DO), nor saying that ALL working mom families have problems. But I DO believe it is a contributing factor to the decline in education.
Aside from the educational benefits of one-on-one tutoring style, I believe Home Schooling also provides a stronger a parent/child (mom or dad) experience, similar to the traditional family, since the kids and parents are "together" more. I have a hard time understanding the term spending "quality time" compared to just plain old spending " MORE time" with someone.
Again, I'm not putting down 2-income families or women going into careers. Nor am I indicating that fathers should not "step up" their responsibilities in raising kids. I'm just making a point that there seems to be a correlation with the above events and the decline of education in the US.
