I agree parenting has gotten better in some regard. There have always been a mixture of "good" and "bad" parents. The difference is parents used to take responsibility for their kids. Kids behavior largely stays the same (although with the internet kids are smarter and learn more at an early age, both good and bad). However, I do think there has been a societal shift towards parents wanting schools to be responsible for their kids entire education. It was not that way when I was growing up. In addition to being taught to read and do math early on by my parents, they also demanded respect for them and society. When kids miss class they want the school to fix it. I had a brother that started missing class in high school, and when my parents found out my mom sat with him in all of his classes for a week (she took work off to do it too). He never missed again. I think this is the part that has eroded. I think there was more trouble in the past as we didn't have the helicopter parents of today. So, yes, kids had more opportunity to get into trouble, but that is how we learn. I learned more about society due to the freedom I had as a child. I would walk miles to school at age 6. At 8 I would ride my bike to the mall, go to the waterpark or skiing at a young age with friends on the bus, and with that trust and respect from my parents, I learned how to act away from my parents in society. That does not happen anymore.
Regardless, the system has been broken for a long time. And knowing many parents do not get involved (as educators know first hand), we need to force a solution that will help us rise up as a nation. I honestly feel that if parents had to pay when their kids didn't attend, or structuring an incentive system where you go to schools based on test scores/attendance, it might help. Many of these kids are too dumb to realize what they are losing out on by not taking advantage of free education. Others live in areas where the education provided is in adequate.