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| The New Orleans classroom of Jeri Hill (from the NYTimes article referenced) |
Sarah Carr has an interesting article on the New Orleans
school reform effort in the Sunday Review
section of the New York Times. I believe
she is correct in questioning whether improving schools can "fix"
poverty-stricken communities. Her description of the current New Orleans school
reform crusade as a "missionary pursuit" that may be unsustainable in
the long run is perfect. Both of these
points echo arguments that my co-author and I make in our 2009 book Public Education: America's Social History.
Still, I think Ms. Carr is wrong in suggesting that the
reform efforts in New Orleans have somehow damaged the community. In 2005, most
of the city's public school children lived in low-income, single-parent
families. Most of the working-age adults below the poverty level were not only out of work, but
out of the labor force entirely. The violent crime rate in neighborhoods
surrounding the schools was already skyrocketing. The school board was corrupt
and incompetent. I cannot imagine what institutional changes could have
weakened any further a community in this state. While the civic society is probably not
immediately bound for utopia, it is certainly no worse off because of charter
schools and young educational missionaries.
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