Not sure I agreed with Mr Oliver on all of his points. For one thing, if the problem is underfunding of schools where students are mostly low income minorities, why is the strategy to solve the problem not to fund ALL schools equally?
Bussing kids across town to a better school is a shitty answer. Kids should be able to attend schools in their own neighborhoods. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not advocating “Separate But Equal” schools as they have been implemented in the past, because we know that didn’t work well at all. But all schools in the same city should be funded equally. For one municipality to fund one school at one level and another at a lower level is discriminatory. Just because one neighborhood pays higher property taxes shouldn’t give them priority standing. People in “rich” neighborhoods pay higher taxes because they are rich. They were able to purchase more expensive property, and these folks can afford to pay higher taxes. They can also afford to send their kids to private schools if they don’t feel public school education is good enough (and most of them do exactly that anyway). The rich have a choice. The taxes they pay shouldn’t entitle their children to a better education than someone who cannot afford to pay that amount of tax. The wealthy can afford to BUY their kids a better education than public schools provide if they so wish.
But the poor (regardless of skin color) have no choice. They depend on public schools as the ONLY choice for their children, and to limit them to schools that SUCK is fundamentally unfair to those children and our entire society. ALL our children should be entitled to THE BEST education that our country can give them.
Ask yourself this: How many “Einsteins” have ended up in jail (or worse) instead of discovering the next breakthrough in quantum physics, simply because of the neighborhood where they grew up? How many times over might we have already cured cancer if we were pulling from the ENTIRE population of children for the next generation of medical researchers instead of just the wealthy segment? Great schools in the most economically challenged neighborhoods would fundamentally change our Nation for the better. Some of our greatest minds are rotting away, wasted, simply because the schools in their neighborhoods suck, and the teachers don’t have the resources to prepare them for a productive future.
If we want to focus on desegregation, focus on desegregating NEIGHBORHOODS. Great schools would encourage more diversity in those neighborhoods, and therefore in the schools. Great schools would help increase property values (and eventually property taxes) in those areas as well. Simply carting kids across town is the WORST answer for everyone. The shitty schools stay shitty, and the students who go there get a shitty education regardless of race. Bussing white kids into poor schools from rich areas won’t work…because the rich kids will end up in private schools if they can afford it…and they can. So only the poor white kids will get bussed to the poorly funded schools, and discrimination persists. Sure…we shift from race-based to income-based discrimination. But it’s still discriminatory and everyone (except the wealthy) ends up unhappy…as usual.
Bussing kids across town to a better school is a shitty answer. Kids should be able to attend schools in their own neighborhoods. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not advocating “Separate But Equal” schools as they have been implemented in the past, because we know that didn’t work well at all. But all schools in the same city should be funded equally. For one municipality to fund one school at one level and another at a lower level is discriminatory. Just because one neighborhood pays higher property taxes shouldn’t give them priority standing. People in “rich” neighborhoods pay higher taxes because they are rich. They were able to purchase more expensive property, and these folks can afford to pay higher taxes. They can also afford to send their kids to private schools if they don’t feel public school education is good enough (and most of them do exactly that anyway). The rich have a choice. The taxes they pay shouldn’t entitle their children to a better education than someone who cannot afford to pay that amount of tax. The wealthy can afford to BUY their kids a better education than public schools provide if they so wish.
But the poor (regardless of skin color) have no choice. They depend on public schools as the ONLY choice for their children, and to limit them to schools that SUCK is fundamentally unfair to those children and our entire society. ALL our children should be entitled to THE BEST education that our country can give them.
Ask yourself this: How many “Einsteins” have ended up in jail (or worse) instead of discovering the next breakthrough in quantum physics, simply because of the neighborhood where they grew up? How many times over might we have already cured cancer if we were pulling from the ENTIRE population of children for the next generation of medical researchers instead of just the wealthy segment? Great schools in the most economically challenged neighborhoods would fundamentally change our Nation for the better. Some of our greatest minds are rotting away, wasted, simply because the schools in their neighborhoods suck, and the teachers don’t have the resources to prepare them for a productive future.
If we want to focus on desegregation, focus on desegregating NEIGHBORHOODS. Great schools would encourage more diversity in those neighborhoods, and therefore in the schools. Great schools would help increase property values (and eventually property taxes) in those areas as well. Simply carting kids across town is the WORST answer for everyone. The shitty schools stay shitty, and the students who go there get a shitty education regardless of race. Bussing white kids into poor schools from rich areas won’t work…because the rich kids will end up in private schools if they can afford it…and they can. So only the poor white kids will get bussed to the poorly funded schools, and discrimination persists. Sure…we shift from race-based to income-based discrimination. But it’s still discriminatory and everyone (except the wealthy) ends up unhappy…as usual.
More: http://bit.ly/2erHnBb
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