With all due respect, there are millions of children in the public school system who are "sharply behind when it comes to every subject."
I find sending one's children away to be "taught" by STRANGERS incredibly irresponsible.
The economy benefits greatly from the educational system. I lived and taught school in a small community in northeastern Kentucky where the school (of only 500 students K-12) was the largest employer in the COUNTY, and those people fought tooth and nail to ensure that their school stayed there regardless of the fact that the school was a mess, they couldn't keep teachers or adminstrators, there was no discipline, and children were abused, verbally and physically, and property destroyed on a daily basis by the STUDENTS, but nothing could or would be done, because the school needed the numbers (attendance, not grades or EDUCATION, was what mattered) to get funding.
Yes. I homeschool my children, and we even call ourselves unschoolers. I am neither irresponsible nor ridiculous, and many things we don't want our children to know are learned as a side effect of going to public school.