An exception does not disprove a truism. My wife works as a PT in our school district. She has a lot of contact and conversations with teachers, students, and parents. It is universally understood that the students that do well are the one with involved parents. The students that tend to do poorly are the ones that have parents that can't be bothered to take the time and energy to work with their child. I have seen it myself with the Boy Scouts. The parents that take an active interest and participate tend to be the ones that end up with an Eagle Scout. We have one boy that has been at the rank of Scout for about two years. His parents are too busy (drinking a beer in front of the TV) to work with him.

I also consider myself an exception. My parents both had a 6th grade education. They did not consider education important. As a result I did poorly in grade school. I joined the army after high school (dropped out and had to retake 12th grade). When I was in the army I realized that education makes a difference in life. I got out and used the GI bill to get a bachelors of Science in computer information systems. After I was working as a programmer my company paid for me to get a master's in management information systems.

Involved parents = good students.

Money + government = @#$%^