I rarely come down on the side of "conservative" Supreme Court decisions. Yet I was more pleased than not over this week's decision casting out what I see are most forms of race-based school enrollment "balancing."
It's not only that I don't feel comfortable with governments making any type of decision involving the "race" of an individual, or even a group of individuals. Government should be color-blind, period. Not income-based eligibility-blind, but color-blind.
At least to me, not a person of color, there are deeper issues here. I'd like to talk to you about them.
Of course the inferiority of so many of our inner city public schools to suburban schools- OK, majority black to majority white- is an ongoing American tragedy that both angers and saddens me. But when I look at some of the root causes of the urge to implement these programs, I see a matrix that goes far beyond the urge of some loving parents to expose their children to a daily learning environment far more conducive than their neighborhood schools.
To me the core issue is why are so many of these inner city schools so inferior that many parents who care want their child to attend elsewhere?
There is racism here, but that's an oversimplification.
I'd like to see some things change, that if implemented would make inner city schools better.
1. More inner city residents (and I am NOT talking about one race) need to vote. Why? On the city, county and state level, there are so many jurisdictions that would be more school-funding friendly if those who actually have children in these schools voted to the degree that anti-tax empty nesters do. More school bonds for school construction would be just one goal.
2. Abolition of No Child Left Behind. Schools should not be penalized for poor test scores that are themselves the unwanted result of social conditions that teachers and principals cannot change quickly.
3. Better pay for teachers to teach in inner-city schools. Maybe even tuition loan rebates.
4. Instill more of a respect for learning. The classroom and the library should be seen as the best way out. And the not-unknown ridicule that some African-American kids hurl on others for "talking white" needs to be shunned as much as that "n" word.
5. Shun the gangstas. Many parents want to transfer their kids because the hallways and surrouding 'hood is rough. Well, let's make it less rough. One way to do so would be to can this "code of silence" in which some folks refuse to testify against suspected lawbreakers in the neighborhood.
6. Since the school demographic patterns we've been referring to here are housing-based, how about tax breaks for companies that stay in the city (convenient to bus transportation for inner city workers)? Maybe with secure jobs, comes say, the ability to pay for a computer with an Internet connection where your child can use to help with homework.
7.STOP HOUSING DISCRIMINATION NOW. Vigorous proactive steps, investigatory activity, and aggressive enforcement. Aggressive as in builders and real estate agents found guilty of housing discrimination to lose their licenses and permits for several years. Stopping housing discrimination would, at least slightly, help those families who want to move to a suburb, exurb or even just a neighborhood to do so.
And finally, I know I am going to sound like a social conservative, but:
8- Strengthen two-parent families, and fathers, please stick around. Actually that's not a socially conservative position. I'm referring to two-parent families of any gender. Although there are some wonderful single parents- but there's something about having two caring parents that will keep a child focused.
Implementing these steps would help treat the cause of the conditions that spark so many inner-city parents to seek a place for their children to learn.