And there is the "idle hands syndrome": with many parent working during the day the so-called "latchkey kids" were too often getting into trouble. This is a political issue now and every politician seems to want to claim to be the one with the answers, hence more taxes for more funding for extra-curricular programs.

The most astounding thing to me was listening to a freind of my wife's this past weekend talk about her 6-year old son... he is bringing home so much homework that she enrolled him in a special program that teaches him how to structure his time better so he can get more work done. At the age of 6 ? That's over the top IMHO.