Summarize the passage.

TOPIC: A single parent family

The plight of the family has been much discussed in the media. It is by now well known to all. The research on this problem is clear. Take one of the parents permanently out of the homes, the chil will be more likely to have low grades, to discipline problems in the classroom, to skip the school, and to end up as to a school dropout. The child will be more likely to experience emotional or physiological disturbance, to become involved with drugs, and to get in trouble with the law.

This is to say that a single parent cannot do a good job for raising children. Many do: they deserve our thanks and our praise. I have thanks and praise for one in particular: my mother, a divorced parent, who raised my brother and me. But it is obvious-- it was obvious to me and it was obvious to my mother-- that it is much harder for one parent to raise a child than it is for two. This is another unplesant fact; it is simply a matter of having to spread onself too thin.

The decline of the traditional American family constitutes perhaps the greastest long-term threat to our children's well-being. This country must not lose the most important educational instituional of all, the one that has sustained and advanced our best ideals as a cuture and a civilization. This country must not lose the institution that has the unpararelled capacityto protect and nurture our children.