The hardest job I ever had was cleaning out a boiler at a coal fired plan right out of the Army while waiting for College to start. I did it with men who lived in a half-way house for violent felons. They had tattoos and scars ( which was not cool 20 years ago ) and had some pretty amazing stories to tell.
Some of them read at quite a high level while some could not read at all, some were Muslim, some were Atheists, some were black, some white, but most of them share one thing - they hated their parents.
I also fostered 18 kids.
The biggest problem in our society is not poverty or the schools, its parents who will not raise their kids properly or at all. Sometimes its drugs, sometimes its depression or other mental illness, sometimes they don't protect them, and sometimes its lack of knowledge, and sometimes its just a lack of attention. It all begins at home.
One step that would make this better is some form of Parent Education taught in schools. The big battle over sex ed misses the point and the broader topic should be some sort of Family Education - or better - how to care for and raise kids, budget and plan meals, find a place to live, etc.
