College attendance is up. SAT scores are up in almost every category. School standards are higher and there is more accountability. And according to the New York Times, Texas is now leading the nation in public school reform and increasing student achievement. Births among teen-age unwed mothers rose 33 percent in the 1980s alone.
Children spend more time watching television than they do in the classroom.
There are consequences to America's materialism, secularism and consumerism. I've seen six key changes in kids in my three-plus decades in public education. First, there's a huge increase in dysfunctional families. Children are raising other children. Too many kids are being raised with little or no structure or supervision.