Thomas Sowell outlined exactly the process you describe in his landmark book "
Vision of the Anointed." I think he wrote it about the end of the Carter administration and the book has proved timeless and prophetic. You should find a copy if you haven't read it.
Public education offers all these extras in the inner cities:
- Free breakfast, as well as lunch.
- Soft studies which anyone can pass with minimal effort.
- Feel good politically correct coursework to build self-esteem.
- Free childcare in school for the girls who manage to get knocked-up and prefer drawing a welfare check to abortion or adoption.
- Sports and a plethora of other activities after school.
- Computer labs with equipment which would make a Fortune 500 company proud (well, at least for the first couple of weeks until the get vandalized).
But none of this is enough to produce a graduation rate better than 33%???? We obviously need to tax the middle class some more!