Even apart from life skills, the public school system is failing. Colleges have "Remedial English" classes to teach Freshman how to write a paper, something that 12 years of public school OUGHT to have taught them.

A friend of mine, who became discouraged at teaching remedial English for two years ended up teaching seniors the next year. That left her even more frustrated at how Unready these kids were for the real world.

Alas.