George H.W. Bush: “I think it's a very good point, and that's why parental involvement in public schools is very, very important. And where…”

“I think it's a very good point, and that's why parental involvement in public schools is very, very important. And where it is so hopeless, where it is so disrupted, you do have schools, programs like Cities in Schools run by a guy named Bill Milliken, where they actually have to go in some of the really tough city areas and get city officials who almost adopt a kid. That kid isn't in school, go to the house and find out why the child wasn't there. Was the single parent on drugs, and if so, how does society help give that kid a chance? The theory being every kid, no matter what situation, has to have somebody who knows his name and cares about him. And that is something that I don't think is a problem here, quite obviously, but it is a problem in some schools. And I think we hope that in this encouragement of family involvement, it will take some of that burden away. But where it still remains, we have got to find ways to have every kid have a mentor, every kid have someone who cares about them, lifts them up, brushes them off when he gets hurt, sends him off to school. [A participant said that teachers' involvement in students' lives is important.]”