The recent release of Davis Guggenheim's film Waiting for Superman has contributed to a flurry of discussion over how to fix failing American schools. But nearly nobody mentions that American kids are often underperforming because of the conflict and insecurity created by the broken divorce courts and family policies of the United States. While some progress on education reform is possible by firing bad teachers and hiring new ones, it is clear that much of the potential improvement in educational performance of American children cannot be fully realized without fixing the broken family policies, laws, and courts in this country.
According to recent estimates, almost a third of all schools in England and Wales are faith schools, and almost a quarter of all children are educated in a faith school. These types of schools were a key plank in the labour government's strategy for education, and the Coalition has indicated that it will continue to increase the amount of educational services which are provided by religious groups. There are three types of faith schools: voluntary aided, voluntary controlled and independent religious schools, and different rules apply to each of these.
