Letters to the Editor

Who will save public schools? You! says Sandra Tsing Loh, whose hilarious "Mother on Fire" is a rallying cry for urban parents who can't afford a fancy private institution. By Amy Reiter [2008-08-19]

• Public Schools

  This is a subject that I think about often. I have a 14 year old in the 8th grade at a public high school in a city in Ohio. (Yes, in this city, High School is grade 7th-12th) The population is demographically 55% white and 45% black. But the public school population is 75% black and 20% white and 5% "other". White people are not sending their kids to public school. They have the majority vote in the city, yet do not use the school system. So most every time a bond levy comes up, they vote it down. Then the school system has no money and 100 year old school buildings that they have no money to fix and they start to fall apart. Then the white people say, "Oh look at that school system! It is falling apart! They have terrible test scores! And it's full of 'Minorities'! It's a good thing I send Madison to Country Day!"

  I know that in smaller towns and in the countryside people have no clue what I'm talking about. I grew up in the country and went to whatever school I was zoned to. You didn't think about it for a minute. There were no private schools. But in the cities it is really like this. Los Angeles' public schools are about 90% Black and Latino demographically. New York's are about the same. Every major city has the exact same issue. And it's because the majority (a.k.a. white people) pulled their kids out of the schools about 30-40 years ago. What that essentially means is that schools are for the most part still segegrated. The majority of my city's public schools are almost 100% Black demographically and almost 100% Free/Reduced Lunch. There are a few magnet schools that have a good reputation. There is one good neighborhood elementary school where my kid went. It's located in a fairly well-off area, but somehow the neighborhood didn't abandon it when bussing started and as a result it thrives today. Now, she goes to a magnet high school, where you have to score a certain score on the Terra Nova Test to get in. If it weren't for that High School, I'm not sure where I would send her. Her neighborhood high school is rated Academic Emergency.

  -- Amerikanerin
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  Permalink Flag Tuesday, August 19, 2008 06:12 AM
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