Michael Atherton writes: > Unfortunately, unlike middle class parents, poor parents > can't afford to take their business elsewhere. And in Minneapolis it appears > that the middle class parents just don't give a damn as long as their > children when the lottery.
Data, please? > Has anyone else noticed how ironic it is that > a child's entry into a good school is based on a roll of the dice? If you > lose you sell your house and move to the suburbs or put your kids in > private school; that is unless you are poor. Equity in modern America. Midnight in the schools again. My kid's ability to enter a good school is certain - we've already found three and we're guaranteed one. No dice there, Michael. And thanks to deseg decisions, minority kids are quite able to get in the best open schools in Minneapolis - the ones the middle-class covets. The spots are there. At the very least, parents of poor non-white kids in Minneapolis have substantial choice...if they choose to exercise it. I was at the School Choice Fair last month - on a Saturday, for six hours (so you could go morning or afternoon), downtown on all the bus routes, free parking, even child care. The opportunity was there to find the best place for your kid - and there are plenty of best places. If you're going to proclaim shared responsibility, give the district some credit for offering routes to equity. There's also no data that people who move to the suburbs or enroll in private school do so because MPS schools are "bad." As Lynnell noted, some have an ideal that may or may not be real. They aren't going from bad to good, they're going from not-ideal (imaginary or real) to more-ideal. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
