Unfortunately, many parents do not have the time or energy to spend this much time teaching kids to read. There are parents who have to work all the time so they can feed their kids, there are single parents who work even more to feed their kids, and there are parents who are raising multiple kids and can't give much time to each individual child as a result. There are also parents who struggle with reading themselves, and therefore aren't capable of teaching their kids!

I agree that in a perfect world, all kids would receive personalized reading instruction from their parents. In reality, though, the poor/disadvantaged kids who need such instruction the most are also least likely to have parents capable of giving it to them. Well-funded public education is one of the greatest socioeconomic equalizers we have and it's crucial that we continue to support and expand it.

The problem is that some kids respond very badly to parents teaching, and very good to a third party.

Most parents are dumb. Some parents are a dangerous level of the dumb. The level of dumb where they're unable to admit their flaws and will never say outloud "I'm dumb". That's a big problem, because it means you can't convince them of anything. And then when little timmy is functionally illiterate they'll somehow convince themselves that's fine.

> teach parents

These types of solutions don't work. "Teach people not to smoke" "Teach people to workout" "Teach people to be better people". We need real, actual solutions. As in processes we can take that prove better outcomes. Some hand-wavy "well just do better" isn't a solution. If anything, it's an anti-solution, as in it prevents real solutions getting through.

If you want to reduce crime for example, you reduce poverty via social programs and industry. That is proven, without a doubt, to work. "people need to be better" doesn't work.