Education--love thinking about it

I wasn't at any of the Education sessions today--but loved reading through everyone's postings!

One question: how come, in the discussion about responsibility, no one mentioned parents? Teachers obviously bear a huge responsibility for making sure students learn, and students themselves definitely have to plug-in and take an active interest in learning. But don't the parents play a pretty big role? How much encouragement at home are kids getting? How interested are parents in their kid's educations? Are kids being raised in environments that make learning, thinking, and creativity positive values? Or are the parents themselves setting negative examples?

Also, how much should ADMINISTRATION be blamed? Principals, deans, presidents, assistants, education boards, etc? Don't they bear some of the blame when things go wrong in the schools? (Also: who fired all those teachers in Rhode Island--or wherever it was? Were any administrators fired?)

Just curious.