With all the discussion of education issues, here's a Strib story today about a $3 million McKnight grant to the MPS for reform of its high schools:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1592/880951.html also, Lynell Mickelsen wrote: I still think the involvement of families in their children's education is absolutely crucial. To pretend otherwise is to ignore the elephant in the living room. But there's a whole bunch of elephants in a whole bunch of living rooms all over this town. In my more affluent, white section of the city, one of our elephants is the appalling silence of white people in the face of this long-running and unjust racial profiling. Our general indifference to affordable housing issues. And more. ============= GDL: Bravo to Lynnell on this. While we hear a lot about choice and opportunity, I'm not sure folks truly understand the crushing, overwhelming effect of poverty on a caregiver and his or her children. I'm not sure people understand how a family gets by on $437.00 month in benefits for two children, plus food stamps. I'm not sure people understand how a mother of four supports her kids on an $8.00/hr job, and then be expected to pay rent, buy clothes, and have the time to figure out and choose a particularly great or even adequate school. Choice of schools? Sure, it exists, and the opportunities are set up to be there (and the schools should be credited for offering a route for equity), but seeing the crushing effect of poverty on families I deal with everyday is distressing, particularly when they cannot--dare I say cannot-- get on that route that has been offered them. I'm beyond depressed (and I'm sure many teachers and others are as well) of seeing children punished by poverty and its incredibly complex destructive force on their parents/caregivers. Enough already. Let's deal with that elephant that Lynnell recognizes and acknowledges, and that Wizard Marks so forcefully raises. Gregory Luce Phillips David Brauer wrote: > 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. _______________________________________ 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
