My 2 cents. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with my take, but I'm just sharing one father's experience raising kids in the early 2000s.

I'll state upfront that I'm politically right of center, but nothing crazy. I'm live and let live. I probably would have been considered a moderate 20 years ago.

Public schools have been on a downward trajectory my entire adult life (I'm 52). Most of the parents I know have been alarmed at the trend for a while (decades), but as progressive ideology has taken hold over most of our public institutions, the parents I know feel that their concerns and talking points are usually dismissed offhand. Maybe they feel ignored because they're "priveleged" and other more diverse voices need to be heard, or maybe it's because their "conservative values" are simply seen as part of the problem. I don't know. My point is that there are a lot of people who feel ignored and are tired of this.

As a result, I've noticed that slowly, over the last twenty years or so, those that can have been pulling their kids (and themselves) "out" of the public system. We personally homeschooled our kids until 6th grade, then they went to public school. Many in my circle disagreed at the time with our decision to homeschool, but in time have come around as public schools continue to deteriorate.

Those that can afford it (or are willing to sacrifice time/energy/$$$ in order to afford it) have been putting their kids in private school, where they have more say with an administration that's willing to engage the parents that are directly paying for the schooling.

Point being is that more and more people don't feel the public system is meeting their children's needs, are tired of trying to engage the system while getting nowhere, and so have taken matters into their own hands. As parents find public schools administrations continuing to double down on ideas and ideologies that run counter to their own values, many are now more than willing to pull their kids out and go their own way.

These are parents that are deeply concerned for their kids, and are putting a lot of time/money/energy to give their kids a better chance at success in an increasingly confusing and uncertain world.

As parents with initiative pull their kids out of the public system, schools face an increasing percentage of kids from families that are not as committed/concerned/willing to getting involved in their children's education. This is creating a negative feedback loop. Less parental involvement means the bar is lowered for the performance of the average kid in public school. Worse, it also means less parental pushback on the administration, and so public schools continue to double down on failing strategies, all while patting themselves on the back for being so progressive. It leads to a monoculture, where everyone believes they're doing the right thing, so it can't be their fault, the problem must lie elsewhere. It's a big experiment on our kids, the impact of which is accelerating.

The fact is that people are slowly checking out of the institutions we've built, hedging their bets against the future we're being forced into so to speak. Unfortunately this means that we're somewhat bi-furcating the future generation we're in the process of educating. Kids whose parents are involved will work to see their kids get a better education than what public school offers, and should therefore have a better than average chance of success at life. The kids that remain in the system continue to suffer as those with means/ability abandon it. It's not a pretty picture, but this is what things look like when our state institutions start failing us.

It's slowly becoming "every-man-for-themselves". People don't want to engage, they want to argue, to blame, to point fingers, and cover their own ass. Few are concerned about the public good, they'd rather just feel good. So, those that can have given up trying to fix things, and are going their own way. The schools may be failing our kids, but as parents we can still help them.

I don't think what's happening can be stopped at this point. I'm concerned that the rot has taken too deep of a hold at all levels of local and state administration, and academia. It's probably going to get much more dire before things bottom out and start getting better.

Probably has something to do with, or is a symptom of, the coming "Fourth Turning" etc.