The U.S. educational system gets a failing grade" is a commonly acknowledged fact. What can be done about it? How can we make the schools "stay after school" until they bring their grades up? This is a broad issue with numerous ramifications and complexities. Should we hire more teachers, so class sizes can be cut and the teacher-student ratio improved? Do we need to pay teachers a better salary, in order to retain the good ones and attract high caliber ones from other professions? Do we need to separate children with behavior problems from the normal student population?

Both presidential candidates of the major parties proffer a large influx of federal moneys to address the problems. That's the first thought -- reach for the checkbook -- especially with the burgeoning federal budget surplus.

But, will more money produce the desired result? Congress already passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2000, allocating $1.3 billion for "class size reduction."

However, few seem to realize that class "sizes in public schools have actually been declining over the past 30 years. In 1970, the average class contained 22.3 students. Today, the average is 17 students per teacher" (syndicated columnist Mona Charen, "Who Needs Computers in Schools," June 27, 2000, emphasis added).

Has student performance improved? The "National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold-standard test of academic achievement given every two years to students in grades four, eight and 12 nationwide, shows no discernible educational benefit in reading scores for children in smaller classes" (ibid. emphasis added).

Missing dimension in education

One of the presidential candidates, campaigning in California was chided by a member of the audience for not proposing even more money for education. He replied that spending money wasn't the only solution to educational problems. How true that is! A good education is not directly proportional to the amount of money spent on it! There is a missing dimension in education, and it's not dollars.

Three phenomena have affected the U.S. educational system greatly: working mothers, single mothers and feminism. They all relate to "the missing dimension in education."

Regardless of the quality of care provided to infants, no program and no human being can replace the good accomplished by the full-time presence of a mother. Until recently, few studies had linked this unique mother-care with educational performance.

"An extensive study of child development suggests that children's educational achievement can be significantly held back if their mothers work," reported Ed Crooks in a May 15, 2000 article in The Financial Times. He was referring to a survey of over 4,000 children in the U.S. published by the non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research.

The survey discovered that the full-time presence of the mother in the life of a young child is essential for optimum verbal and math skill development. The child's first year is apparently critical in the development of verbal ability, and his or her first three years in the development of math skills.

Single-mother homes

The National Fatherhood Institute reported that 18 million children lived in single-parent homes in 1995 (Melinda Sacks, "Fatherhood in the 90s: Kids of Sbsent Fathers More 'At Risk,' San Jose Mercury News, October 29, 1995).

But how does this relate to the school issue? "The impact of parental divorce and subsequent father absence in the wake of this event has long been thought to affect children quite negatively. For instance, parental divorce and father loss has been associated with difficulties in school adjustment" (Thomas S. Parish, "Children's Self Concepts: Are They Affected by Parental Divorce and Remarriage?" Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 1987, vol. 2, #4, pp. 559-562, quoted on fathermag.com).

Societal pressures and trends have encouraged women to remove themselves and their children from the children's father. Of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders, 85 percent come from fatherless homes (Center for Disease Control). Children from fatherless homes are 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders than those from homes with a father and mother. A University of Michigan study showed that 56 percent had poor grades or grades substantially below ability and/or past performance (Statistics from "Fatherless Homes Breed Violence," p. 1 and "Fatherless Homes Statistics," p. 1, Fathering Magazine,fathermag.com).

It should be self-evident that the children populating our schools have come from our nation's homes. As goes the health of our homes, so goes the behavioral health of our nation's students.

"Because schools reflect the families from which pupils come, school discipline was bound to worsen as more broken families resulted in more troubled or badly reared children" (columnist George Will, "Schools Beset by Lawyers and Shrinks," June 15, 2000).

Consequence of feminism

Enter the consequences of two decades of feminism. Evidence of feminism from Christina Sommer's book, The War Against Boys is related by columnist by John Leo:

"When Barbara-Wilder Smith, a teacher and researcher in the Boston area, made 'Boys Are Good' T-shirts for her class, all 10 female teachers under her supervision strongly objected to the message. One of the 10 was wearing a button saying 'So many men, so little intelligence.'"

Leo adds: "Teachers know that girls are better suited to schooling. So, if you want to teach boys, allowances must be made. One of the tragedies of the last 20 years or so is that school systems are increasingly unwilling to make those allowances. Instead, in the wake of the feminist movement, they have absorbed anti-male attitudes.... They are now more likely to see ordinary boy behavior as something dangerous that must be reined in. Or they may tighten the screws on boys by drafting extraordinarily broad zero-tolerance and sexual-harassment policies. Worse, they may simply decide that the most active boys are suffering from attention deficit disorder and dope them up with Ritalin....

"The Department of Education reported this year: 'There is evidence that the female advantage in school performance is real and persistent.' The school failure of so many boys, magnified and fanned by anti-male hostility, is a severe social problem" ("It's Tough to Be a Boy in American Schools," July 10, 2000).

Children oppress, women rule, leaders mislead

In a long ago prophecy of the consequences of moral corruption of a nation, God warned His people, "As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths" (Isaiah 3:12).

Children, whose lives have been scrambled by incomplete homes and who have been abused by a society confused about sexual identity, truly have become oppressors. Their behavior is making them unteachable and the teaching profession untenable. Women are often the sole authority figures in the home; men are largely absent. Not a feminine, but a feminist philosophy leads education.

One of the primary reasons why it is difficult to obtain and retain good teachers is the fact that schools are not safe places in which to work. Students are increasingly violent in their behavior and less inclined to subject themselves to the discipline of a learning environment. They effect an unsafe environment and one in which both learning and teaching are impossible. Gifted teachers who love their profession are being driven from the classroom, but not over pay issues. More dollars in their paychecks can not compensate for the unworkable circumstances.

How long will it take to rectify the current condition? If how God ordered His model nation of Israel's children is an indication, it will take at least one generation that believes and lives by godly values, which in turn passes those values on its children. Then, children will be teachable. When the Israelites were poised to enter the Promised Land, God explained how they could ensure a peaceful society:

"Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you -- 'a land flowing with milk and honey.'... And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:1-9).

"It's not the money, stupid" that will solve the educational problems of America. When its homes are healthy again, then its schools will pass the grade.