On the contrary. The public schools are the only public place values are taught. The only way to survive in a classroom is to teach good values to the children, and to live them. Outside the classroom, the values are the values of the street, the television, the mall, and the Market. Public education began in Virginia just after the Civil War, pressed forward by the Christian churches, as a unifying movement of great idealism.
Education gets a smaller and smaller percentage of our money and effort.
There is no mysterious failure here. We have done less. Therefore, less has been achieved. But still this very day, if you wish to see someone taking the time to encourage someone else, you can walk into even the most distressed school and there you can see it. We need to provide abundant encouragement for this most holy activity.