This country is at war with its parents, according to a new book, and the casualties are the children.
Families have to mobilize in their own defense, the two authors declare.
Their idea is inspired by the GI Bill of Rights, the amalgam of federal supports that helped 2.2 million returning veterans go to college and 12 million Americans buy homes or businesses. The glitch, all sides say, is getting America's 62 million parents to agree on solutions. Parents agree they want better schools, for example, but parent groups are fighting in Congress about whether the answer is more money for public schools or vouchers for private schools. Instead of a unified front, parents are picking one another off in a version of friendly fire. Part of the problem is that parenting groups have to do so much work simply to survive, said Suzanne Jones, the executive editor of the Single Parent Resource Center, based in Manhattan.