If you think education reform isn’t a big issue, think again. New data shows that the U.S. is still losing ground. It’s estimated that the average Canadian 15-year-old is more than a year past the average American 15-year-old student in school. In fact, out of the more than 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) “only New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and Mexico now have lower high school completion rates than the U.S.,” according to Andreas Schleicher, a senior OECD education official.

The Big Question: Why Are Our Students Slipping Behind?

Well, it isn’t just our schools, which makes things a bit trickier. The students themselves are more difficult to fix. According to Charles Butt, CEO of a supermarket chain in Texas, who spoke in front of the Senate Education Committee, “Schools are inheriting an overentertained, distracted student.” Tom Harkin, who leads the committee, picked up on those words, saying, “Overentertained and distracted–that’s right. The problem lies with many kids before they get to school, and if we don’t crack that nut, we’re going to continue to patch and fill.”

Short of showing up at homes across America and unplugging the myriad electronic distractions, what are we to do about this? Has anyone thought about a parenting reform initiative? Cutting kids off from their video games, computers, and cell phones can be tough, but, frankly, parents are holding all of the cards here. It still bothers me that we require a full series of tests and licenses for driving, but you don’t even have to fill out a form to make a baby.

Perhaps a series of mandatory parenting classes would help solve some of these issues. It could be like traffic school–your kid gets in trouble or fails a few classes, and you have to complete parenting school. It wouldn’t take much to get an online course up and running to this end. It wouldn’t have to be long, just a reminder that parenting is your duty just like obeying the driving laws. If you don’t want to drive safely, you don’t get to use our roads or highways. If you don’t want to be a good parent, you don’t get to use our public school system. Here’s the clincher: your kid still has to go to school (thank you, truancy laws), but now you have to pay for a private school or learn to love home schooling the monster you created.