Governing Board Meeting April 5, 2010

City Schools and the American Dream Reclaiming the promise of public education It will not be possible to improve urban public schools until our society is willing to address the issues and problems confronting the children and families in the communities where schools are located. Unless concerted action is taken to alleviate the hardships and suffering related to poverty and to spur development that can lead to economic and social stability for communities and families, little change in the character and quality of urban schools in the United States will occur. Given the long history of failure in urban public schools, this point should be obvious. Yet, despite the track record of failure, we continue to hear slogans from the federal government like “Leave No Child Behind” without the political will needed to realize this goal. Stating the obvious fact does not really help in furthering the development of solutions. The action required – generating capital to bring economic development and social stability to urban areas – is relatively clear and straightforward, but the challenge of doing so is more complicated than it might seem.

Governing Board Meeting April 5, 2010 City Schools and the American Dream Reclaiming the promise of public education Throughout the United States, we must stop pretending that public schools can solve the problems they face on their own…building civic capacity in support of public education is essential if the potential of the region is to be realized. Racial inequality, poverty, and violence…are societal issues for which a national strategy is needed if conditions in schools and communities in urban areas are to significantly improve. There is a vast body of research in education that has shown the importance of addressing environmental issues to solve educational problems, but rarely have we seen a concerted effort made to do so. Instead, policy makers and occasionally educators have tended to treat these environmental issues as though they were beyond the realm of education and have acted as if it were possible to improve schools without taking them on. Given the dismal record of failure in efforts to improve urban schools across the United States, makes sense to try something new. A new approach must be based on a framework that links educational issues to environmental issues, one that responds to the problems confronting schools in concert with those facing the local community. Anything less is unlikely to bring about the changes that are so desperately needed. We must stop pretending that we can avoid confronting and addressing urban conditions as we try to devise strategies for improving urban schools.

Governing Board Meeting April 5, 2010 City Schools and the American Dream Reclaiming the promise of public education Education is a political issue, and the question confronting all of those who are disturbed over the state of education for poor children in America is: “Which side are you on?” Education plays a special role in American society because it operates on more democratic principles than any other social institution (Carnoy & Levin, 1985). As the only public institution required to serve the needs of all children, it is all that remains of the social safety net for poor children in the United States. Without a doubt it would be a major blow to child welfare and civil rights generally if the flawed ad feeble institution of public education were to be dismantled. We can make significant improvements in the quality of public education available to poor children in urban areas. We have the resources, the know-how, and the models to do this. What is lacking is the will and conviction to make it happen. Those who understand the importance of education must work with creativity and a sense of urgency to find ways to generate the will, to make those are presently indifferent or unconcerned understand what is at stake. What is at stake are children’s lives and the kind of society we will become. For those who do not want to see entire cities written off as dangerous “no man’s lands,” who do not want to see incarceration rates continue to rise and executions of the most vulnerable continue to escalate, who are afraid of becoming a society that fears its own children, working to improve urban education is an imperative. The future of American society will be determined in large measure by the quality of its urban schools. We have the responsibility to try to make that future far better than the present we now know.