I appreciate Ms. Edelman's vivid advocacy for young people.
I appreciated her candor, and her illustrative use of wild life caring for their young in the face of perilous predatory odds.
Yet I am concerned by her assertion that "parents alone cannot protect children."
I do not trust the state, in all its benevolent idealism, to do what is in the best interests of young people.
One telling example of government's inadequacy as Nanny-Welfare State is the repeated failure of the Los Angeles Country Board of Supervisors to protect foster children from abusive and murderous guardians, or even to follow up on the systemic dysfunction and individual failures of its members.
Regarding the needed improvements in education, school districts are overrun with burdensome regulations that protect miscreants at the expense of students who want to learn. Bureaucratic tangles siphon away needed resources from the classroom. The immense offices and code enforces in Los Angeles Unified alone account for much of the waste in that district.
If we are really interested in improving K-12 education, let parents choose where they enroll their kids. Rescind the zip-code laws which incarcerate families into settling for lower performing schools. A voucher system would permit the state to remit schools receiving larger enrollment, enabling more successful sites to expand, while forcing failing sites to innovate or close.
School vouchers in education would cost nothing for the taxpayer, but would ensure that every tax dollar spent was used more effectively educating our children. This way, no child has to be left behind.