The following emboldened comments are directly from readers...

"Learning doesn't stop once you leave the school grounds. If you have children, then for God's sake and the sake of humanity, don't abdicate your responsibility as a parent to the day care centers to make your kids useful citizens (and engineers). Do what our neighbors across the seas do; raise your kids right, teach them a good work ethic, make them study…"

"You need to also get Mom back in the house."

I'm not sure that I know anyone who's killing themselves at 9-5 jobs. For many—in engineering and other professions—such a job would be a walk in the park.

Let's take a very basic look at the 1950s, for example. The majority of jobs—including those in manufacturing—involved 8-hour shifts. Entire towns and cities, even entire states were built upon a foundation of manufacturing. Manufacturing towns were almost like motorhomes. As they said in From Dusk 'til Dawn, "We're self-contained!" Housing, stores, doctors, lawyers were 'self-contained' within relatively small areas. As manufacturing started to go away, even decades ago, not only were people laid off but they were doomed to life in a ghost town. They moved on to the next town, factories closed (immortalized in Billy Joel's "Allentown," for instance). The song had some threads to reality. Life was simple; compared to today, anyway. Dad worked hard at the plant (or the mill) and was reasonably well compensated. Mom worked hard at home. The 8-hour shifts and reasonable compensation even allowed some time and provided some resources to spend with the kids.

Yes, Mom also put on her teacher's hat after school, guiding and helping the children with their homework. Mom's influence was strong. While Dad was at the plant, Mom was around to notice things, like when Junior demonstrated a propensity toward things mechanical or electrical. Recognizing such natural inclinations started the ball rolling, perhaps toward engineering.

Today, most Moms aren't home to notice such things. Daycare-ducators (or babysitters, depending upon their nature and patience) have 10, 15, 20 or more kids to deal with all day. They can't be expected to notice what a mother would see with such clarity, and certainly can't act upon it or guide even if such tendencies are noticed.

I don't agree that the majority of parents 'abdicate' responsibility to daycare centers and schools. One salary isn't good enough anymore and, often, even two aren't quite good enough. So, both parents work, most of them beyond 9-5. They're beat by the time they get home. Children suffer, of course, as do marriages (supported by any number of statistics). Relationships suffer. Unfortunately, I know these things all too well from first-hand experience. The truly gut-wrenching element of that is—no matter what you do—it's difficult if not impossible to get that time back with your family.

One of a list of 'values' from my current employer (the Day Job, not writing here) is "High-spirited, enjoyment, well-being, career-family balance." (While these things sound good theory, I'm still not sure how these are values.) In this context, 'career-family balance' strikes me as odd, as I recently overheard an exec say, "Hey. I'm here at 7:00 in the morning and stay 'til 7:00 in the evening, and I expect everyone else to work the same way." What's wrong with this picture? Or is it just me? Balance between family and career simply cannot coexist with 12-hour workdays.

Today, parents have no choice but to ship their kids out to daycare—and daycare is EXPENSIVE. So, The Circle of Life has taken the form of Mom and Dad chasing their own tails; instead of each other's, which might help save a few marriages.

"Do what parents overseas do and raise your kids right." While there's something to raising your kids right, I'm not sure they do any better 'overseas.' Where exactly overseas? What are they doing that we don't do? Parents here don't have the time to raise their kids right. A soccer game is good. A vacation is good. But valuable, day-to-day interaction between parent and child is impossible when the only time you have to catch up is at the dinner table—if everyone eats at the table. I believe that discipline, for example, is a part of raising your kids right. That's not going to happen, however, as you're gonna be hauled off by Child Services if you raise your voice in caring frustration. My Momma said, when my first was born, "Don't try to be his friend. You're the parent." In later years, my kids and I have become friends. There's something to "You're the parent," however. Kids are coddled, 'protected' from teachers who, God forbid, send them home with work at the end of the day. They're told that everything they do is wonderful. (Just watch the tryouts next year for American Idol. When Simon Cowell says, "That was just bloody awwwful," he's most often right. Without fail, some of the kids respond, "But my parents say I'm the greatest singer ever!" Well, you know what, kid? You're not. You sound like the family SUV did just before its engine seized, because we just didn't have the time to check the engine oil. You should have pursued engineering.

"We reinvest in our families, in our people to help make us great." In our own way, we do. We work our butts off in those 12-hour days to help get them through college. A noble pursuit by nearly any measure. By that time, however, we've lost the first 17 or so years of their lives.

Get Mom back in the house? Yeah. That'd be wonderful. But you know what? It's not gonna happen anytime soon, maybe not in our lifetimes—unless Dad is making well into the six figures. Maybe. There aren't any guarantees even with that.

Families need work. The community (No, not chat room communities and IM boxes.) needs work. Teachers need work. 'Religion' needs work. (Unless you're a Christian contractor building churches. That's been big business of late.) Education needs work. Most of all, our leaders—both religious and political (Wait! Is there a difference?) need one hell of a lot of work.

What say you?