James, I understand that there must be at least some good intentions behind social engineering. However, it seems to me that you are more likely to treat symptoms, rather than causes, that way. In the case we are discussing, how pouring more money into schools is going to resolve the underlying issue of single-parenthood? There was the time when treating family as sacred was a matter of culture, regardless whether rich or poor. Even more among the poor, as the family cohesion was often a matter of sheer survival. In other words, it is not being poor that makes you more likely to end up in single parenthood. It is subculture.
You paint a realistic picture.
Money for schools is part of a wider problem and, on its own, will not resolve the failures.
Someone else touched upon discipline, and that is basic. Where there is none there can be no progress. Teachers have a tough job as it is; if much of their time is spent simply trying to keep control of a class then you can imagine not a lot of minutes are left to learning or even, who would have guessed? teaching.
That is pretty much a problem that I think comes from the babying attitude of those who campaigned for abolishing the cane. It worked. I felt one across my ass several times, only once was it deserved. Kids know when they have crossed the line, and at such times, accept it as punishment for their stupidity. You don't go out of your way to get hurt again unless you already have issues. Likewise, those who administer it must be pretty sure why they use it. I never stopped hating the guy who gave me my first, undeserved dose, nor the visiting missionary who reported me. I probably owe much of my dislike for preachers to those two people.
Family is pretty vital for every reason you can imagine. I am fairly sure that wife abuse stems from seeing it at home. Unless you have a strange sexual fantasy, I can think of few reasons for making the person you married suffer. As true, keeping a rotten relationship together "for the children's sake" is just as bad an idea. I've seen what that did to close friends' kids: damaged their ability to form adult relationships with the opposite sex.
In the end, it seems that the more we look at it, the more unlikely it appears that the world will continue to have standard family structures for very much longer. Along with our environment, which is given no choice - we are also mutating into a solitary species that will end up producing to quota, finding sex in the local supermarket emporium, alongside the hairdresser shops. Or do I mean toiletries?