I don't know how we (as a country) can revere the 'Greatest Generation' (those that fought WWII and then built the country to its' heights in the fifties) and simultaneously revile the teaching and child rearing methods that MADE them that way...

Discipline in school and the home leads to that character, but we have allowed parenting and teaching to be 'hands off' and we see the results of that all around us.

Rather than address the excesses of the old ways (child abuse at home and school) we simply threw up our hands and took the easy way out and made it so NO discipline gets used. we are reaching a tipping point, with adults raising children that had no discipline themselves as children (having been raised by a generation that was the first to throw out the rulebook) and things are looking bleak for our childrens' education and our county's future.

Why we couldn't find a balance between 'spare the rod, spoil the child' and 'beat the kid all the time, go to jail' beats me...