You will not have read this expose in the “New York Times,” as neither their controlling shareholders nor their staffers have their children in the affected schools, but –

FOR MANY DECADES, financially challenged urban African-American and Hispanic kids have had virtually no choice but to attend local schools noted for low academic standards and minimal preparation for higher education. Instead, they are being trained to be eager consumers (see John Taylor Gatto’s unreadable book –“The Underground History of American Education — that nonetheless makes the prior valid point) and they learn the finer points of how to get low-paying service jobs in industries importantly catering to the whims and alleged needs of affluent white suburbanites.

Of course, they are not tutored in the particulars of said jobs, like “at will” employment versus being involved in a union contract, or the vagaries of health insurance.  Why would “we” spoil a good thing. We do not want real change, but the guilt part of our psyche does mean that money has been poured into the above schools, with, uh, no discernible impact.

The affluent have always had school choice – it is a function of the thickness of their wallets.  They simply pick up and move to districts offering better educational opportunities. Those with lesser financial resources have been rendered vote-less.  Some “volunteer” to become additionally impoverished — the double whammy of taxes and parochial school tuition. Later, they discover that the first priorities of these schools are “values” and safety, not academic rigor.

Adding to the fraudulent aspect of their schools, the overworked (absurd caseloads) guidance counselors in urban America are not well-versed on that many colleges. Often they resort to default options, like suggesting local two-year colleges or low-cost state schools, which may or may not be appropriate (and would never happen in an affluent area).

In this overall education environment, I am not chagrined to see adverse publicity about various voucher programs, which in aggregate involve a handful of students nationally.  Negative feedback will bring changes in their modus operandi or they will disappear.  In contrast, the neighborhood school down the street in urban America can be under-educating its kids for decades and it lives on, providing nice employment for the adults.

Howard Fuller, the well-known African American education reformer, had it colorfully right more than twenty years ago, “it (changes in our approach to educating those with limited financial resources) ain’t about the research, it’s about the will.”

P.S. High-performing charter schools begin with that will, the passion to deliver a quality education to all students, regardless of their particular backgrounds.