To the editor:

I am not really surprised by what this new report says; “75 percent of the country’s 17-24-year-olds are ineligible for military service, largely because they are poorly educated, overweight or have physical ailments.”

What does surprise me is that former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff think they can fix the problem by injecting another $10 billion into early childhood development programs. How do they think students got into this predicament?

Our educational system certainly has room for improvement, but let’s not put all these problems on the schools or the teachers! Let’s be bold enough to call it like it is! Where are the parents? What is their responsibility?

The state of Kansas requires students to attend 1,116 class hours per academic year. The remainder of the calendar year (8,760 hours) is shared with siblings, friends and parents. That means during 87 percent of the year the students are not in an educational environment but under the supervision of parents or caregivers. What do the parents do during this time? What about helping or monitoring school work? What about requiring kids to be outside and active? What about encouraging extracurricular activities?

Now, I know that times have changed and many households include both parents working a full-time job. But that does not absolve them of their parental duties. Parents are just as responsible as teachers when it comes to the overall education and health of their children.