I live in the woods near Canada but was born in Brooklyn and lived in Manhattan until I was 30.
In your opinion, are "urban public schools" (and specifically mandatory high school) viable?
By "viable", I mean, if you were put in charge and given plenary authority over rules, curriculum, and structure, but you were not allowed to expel attendees for non-criminal offenses and were not allowed to segregate, could you make it work?
> By “viable”, I mean, if you were put in charge and given plenary authority over rules, curriculum, and structure, but you were not allowed to expel attendees for non-criminal offenses and were not allowed to segregate, could you make it work? <
That’s an interesting question. So here goes...
I’ll start off by saying that urban schools have rather unique problems due to the lack of family structure. But there is nothing schools can do about that. It’s just something that has to be accepted as part of the landscape.
Here’s what can be done, in the high schools at least. Institute a robust honors program. This program would offer challenging math and science classes. A student can only get into the program with good grades and good behavior.
Since every kid is not going to college, pair this academic program with a robust trades program. And make it a PAID program! In their junior and senior years, pay the trades kids to go out into the neighborhood and do repair work (under the supervision of their teachers).
What I just described here was - back in the 90’s - my urban high school. We had a great honors program, as good as any in the suburbs. Many of those kids went on to be doctors and engineers.
And we had a great trades program as well, first-class all the way.
All of that is gone now. The honors program fell apart when some activists noticed it was not racially balanced. And there weren’t enough “special education” (read “slow”) kids in these classes. So the new standard became come-one-come-all. Fistfights are now common in these classes.
And our trades program was eliminated. Not just reduced, but eliminated. You can thank George W. Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ for that. NCLB tests for math and English skills, not for trade skills. So principals dropped the trades programs, and shoved those kids into advanced math and English classes. Those kids didn’t want to be there. End result? More fistfights.
The class balancing scam is not going away. Neither is NCLB. So (very) long story short: No, urban schools cannot be made viable again.