Education, does it cost or pay?

A provocative column by Thomas Friedman in the N. Y. Times of April 22 deals with the
economic damage to the United States by our failing educational system. He quantifies the loss of GDP in the multi billions. The fault he says lies with our schools, teachers, principals and administrators. I would trace it to what happened to the child before entering school.
Education begins in the home. How a child will learn in school, his attitude toward attending, his respect or lack thereof for his teachers will have been molded by his parents and peers in his pre-school years. If a child has been raised in a broken, or single parent home; if the parents have little education of their own; if they struggle for economic survival and have little time or interest to devote to stimulating a desire to learn, the child will have no incentive to accept the limits on freedom that come with compulsory schooling. If the street culture in which he grows up denigrates nerds and learning, his need for acceptance will lead him to do the same. School will be a nuisance to be suffered because of the truant officer; a prison from which to escape at the earliest possible moment. If he can't keep up, frustration will lead him into disruptive, anti-social behavior. That child will be on a course to failure. How can we turn that widely prevalent situation around?
If learning begins in the home, during the pre-school years, can we change the attitudes in the home? That will require involving the parents, by innovative means. It will require incentives---monetary, home care assistance, and participation by community leaders and role models. Above all it will need us to accept the goal as worth the effort, and demand volunteer public service from many of us.
Are we up to it?