Sure, I can accept parental responsibility is key, BUT, back in the day every class had kids from the never-do-wells who never gave a damn about their kids and these kids WERE taught to read and do simple arithmetic when taught by the old methods of phonics and memorization of arithmetic basics. I remember even Garden City had at least of those type of kids in almost every class, but they could read. Until the Feds forced "social passing" on them, kids who did not meet the standards were flunked and forced to repeat that grade until they did, or they dropped out.
Lowering standards and abandoning methods that worked and worked very well was done by the educational establishment, the schools in other words.
Contradicting myself? Again, you tried to set up a strawman. Their very ignorance, due entirely to poor education, led them to protest. I'd rather that those who are that ignorant stay apathetic rather than try to protest the wrong thing, at the wrong time, and using wrong methods. It merely re-enforces that the election results were right. Sure, there were professional organizers bussed in with a leavening of professional protestors, but they used a bunch of ignorant, poorly educated kids as pawns in their little games.